Stone Heart
by Kathryn Hart
Summary: In a bar the 11th Doctor finds someone he never thought he'd ever see again. But this Rose is different. She's damaged, bitter, and far more risque in her mannerism than the Doctor ever remembered. She also doesn't want to see him. What happened to make her become like this?Can the Doctor convince her of the love they used to have and bring back the woman he once fell in love with?
1. Prologue - The Wicked Wolf

_**Stone Heart**_

_**by Kathryn Hart**_

** Characters: Eleventh Doctor, Rose Tyler**

**Setting: Anytime after "The Snowmen" but before "Bells of St. John"**

** Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, Action, Hurt/Comfort**

** Rating: T for mild language, torture violence and a risqué Rose at times ;)**

**Hello my lovely readers! Here I am with yet another Eleven/Rose story. Now, this may seem a lot like the story I published in November titled "In the Dark", but yet, this story is very different. Well, sort of different. Lol. I actually had the idea for this one first, but after I made a random photoshopped Eleven/Rose image with a small story to go along, my watchers (on DeviantArt) begged for a story and "In the Dark" was born. And yet, this one still begged to be brought to life. As with most of my stories, this one was inspired by a song. The title and lyrics are taken from Cascada's "Bad Boy". Enjoy!**

****Summary: The Doctor's lost Amy and Rory and he's been searching for Clara for three years. But in a bar he finds someone he never thought he'd ever see again. But this Rose is different. She's damaged, bitter, angry and far more sexy in her mannerism than the Doctor ever remembered. She also doesn't want to see him. What happened to make her become like this? Can the Doctor convince her of the love they used to have and in turn, bring back the woman he once fell in love with?****

* * *

**Prologue – The Wicked Wolf**

_ "Remember the feeling, remember the day? My stone heart was breaking, my love ran away. This moment I knew I would be someone else, my love turned around and I fell..." _

The Doctor had never felt this depressed in his life. It had been three years since he'd started his search for Clara Oswin Oswald, or the Impossible girl, who had saved his life twice and died both times. He missed Amy and Rory too. And River. And Donna, and Martha, Sarah Jane, Jenny and Rose. He missed them all, and every single one of them were dead to him, in one way or another. For the first time in a very long time, he decided he needed a drink.

The Doctor shook his head ruefully. The Wicked Wolf was the only bar this side of the galaxy that served Stohkhoyr, an old Gallifreyan drink. He walked inside and winced at the loud noise assaulting his ears. He hasn't realised this was a busy place, all he had wanted was a quiet spot at the bar to drink his drink alone and in peace. He wanted that drink more though, so he continued in, trying to ignore the smell of the crowd of alcoholic partiers.

"One Stohkhoyr, iced please." The bartender nodded at him. It had been a while, actually a long while since someone had ordered that old time lord drink, but he wasn't one to pry. If the man wanted Stohkhoyr, then that's what he'd get.

The Doctor laid a few coins on the counter as the bartender handed him the greenish-colored liquid in a tall, thin glass. The Doctor sipped it slowly. If he drank it too fast, he'd get drunk, and he tended to do very, very stupid things when he was drunk. Last time he had called an old companion back when she was still traveling with him and told her things he really shouldn't have. His past self then proceeded to hunt him down and give him what for for endangering his relationship with her. The Doctor rubbed a hand over his face. It would do him no good to think of Rose at a time like this. **(*See Author's Note Below)**

The Doctor's head shot up as he heard a familiar voice. No, he must have misheard, because he was thinking of her and it was a very logical thing to imagine her talking here. The Doctor looked around anyway, just to be sure.

And that's when he saw her.

* * *

He blinked numerously, not believing what he was seeing. Not only did he see Rose standing in front of a table a few feet away, she was dressed in a waitress' outfit and a skirt that left hardly anything to the imagination. He was getting dizzy over how short her skirt was. Not even Amy wore them like that. He continued to stare at her, his jaw open and unmoving. His eyes never left her as she continued to bring patrons their food and drink.

The worst part was all the attention she was getting. Hands were groping at her, and wolf calls echoed everywhere she went. She batted a few stray hands away but to many, men, women and aliens alike, she merely gave a sexy wink and bent down as she gave them what they ordered, exposing her open chest.

"No, that _can't_ be her." The Doctor muttered, rubbing his fingers into his eyes, trying to rid himself of the image his weary mind must have conjured. But his mind hadn't conjured anything, and she was still there, acting like a sexy dancer of Benzali. Did Rose have a twin sister, one with no moral compass? No, Rose didn't mention it, and besides, what would her twin be doing on the other side of the galaxy 2,000 years in her future? Wait, what was the real Rose doing way out here if it really was her? Last time he had seen her, he had left her on that miserable beach with that sorry excuse to take care of his Metacrisis clone.

This Rose looked like she had aged ten years, being about 35, but still with the sexiness of a twenty-year-old.

The Doctor had to know what she was doing here, if it really was her. He'd have to wait until the end of her shift and follow her home. He turned back to the bartender and ordered another drink.

* * *

**A/N: The incident referenced to is from my short story "The Phone Call", on my profile now.  
**

**Well, there's the beginning! Tell me what you think! And guess what might happen! :)**


	2. Chapter One - Belle de Jour

**So sorry for the wait (I'm usually pretty right on on updating) but it's been a hectic week :) Wow though, a lot of follows for a couple paragraphs about the Doctor seeing 'Rose' in a bar. Hopefully you won't be disappointed with what I have planned for this! :D**

**Thanks those of you who took the time to review! Especially chocolaty, JollRoger1 and LadyThetaSigma, three steady followers and reviewers of mine, love ya :) Also thanks to breathegentle, glad to hear you like my stories :)**

* * *

**Chapter One - Belle de Jour**

_"Be my bad boy, be my man. Be my weekend lover, but don't be my friend. You can be my bad boy, but understand that I don't need you in my life again."_

Ten minutes in the bartender had seen him eying the pretty young waitress and gave him a warning.

"Stay away from that one mate. She'll rip your innards out and feed them to you if you do something to her she don't want."

"...Who is she? How long has she been here?"

"Her name is Belle de Jour. She been here five years, best waitress I've had in a while. Stubborn but willing to put up with a lot of garbage. When she first came in, she looked like something the cat had dragged in, wearing clothing that smelled and full of holes. I noticed her potential and gave her a job. She won't tell me where she came from, only that her past was something she'd never return to."

"Belle? Oh Rose." The Doctor whispered. What had happened to his beautiful Bad Wolf?

* * *

An hour in he had moved to a table in the corner, away from the rush of people so he could properly watch this 'Belle' without looking like a creeper.

The only good part of the night was when she had joined the band up on the stage, singing into the microphone with that same voice the Doctor had heard serenading the halls of the TARDIS oh so long ago. She hadn't liked to make it public, but she loved to sing, and she had the pipes of a Gilded Angel. The Doctor suspected that she could have been a successful singer, in another time, another world.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to my mother, someone I haven't seen in a long time, and one of the few people ever to stick with me through thick and thin and not send me away just because she was worried for my well-being or thought 'it was for the best'." The drummer began with a slow beat, and the guitarist and violinist followed with a lovely medley. A minute in she began singing, and the Doctor was completely spellbound, lost inside her voice.

_"I can be tough, I can be strong,_  
_but with you, it's not like that at all._  
_There's a girl, that gives a s-t,_  
_behind this wall, you've always walked through it._

_And I remember all those loving words you said._  
_You left them running through my head._  
_You're always there, you're everywhere,_  
_but right now I wish you were here._

_Damn, damn, damn,_  
_what I'd do to have you here, here, here._  
_I wish you were here._  
_Damn, damn, damn._  
_What I'd do to have you near, near, near._  
_I wish you were here._

_I love the way you are._  
_It's who I am, don't have to try hard._  
_You always been, been there for me_  
_And the truth_  
_Is that I really miss_  
_All those loving words you said_  
_You left them running through my head_  
_You're always there, you're everywhere,_  
_But right now I wish you were here._

_No, I don't wanna let go_  
_I just wanna let you know_  
_That I never wanna let go_

_Damn, damn, damn_  
_What I'd do to have you here, here, here_  
_I wish you were here._  
_Damn, damn, damn_  
_What I'd do to have you near, near, near_  
_I wish you were here."_

_Oh, Mama I wish you were here."_

As soon as she was done singing the crowd roared with applause. She didn't seem to care though, only rested her forehead on the microphone and took in a few deep breaths. The guitarist leaned over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm okay Louie, thanks." When she lifted her head back up, her eyes were dry, her face plastered with a smile like nothing had happened.

The Doctor didn't notice any of this. He had hung his head so low it was almost touching the table. A man at the table next to him spoke to a woman he was sitting with.

"I hear she sings that song at least once a week. Her mother musta been one hell of a woman." The Doctor felt a single tear roll down his cheek and splash onto his hand. He knew now for sure that this Belle was his Rose. For the first time this night, that strange woman on the stage had bared her soul for all to see, including the Doctor in the audience she didn't know was there. Plus, no other woman in the universe had a voice like that.

Something had happened to his former companion, and it was now his job to fix whatever had gone wrong.

* * *

It was another three hours before he finally saw Rose head to the back and come back out in normal clothes for this time period. In those three hours he had seen horrible, despicable things that he'd never be able to erase from his memory and made his blood boil with intense rage and jealousy. Images of her leading men off to another room and seeing her come back out sometime later, stuffing money into her top. He'd heard her swear like a Ribachi sailor and perform dance moves on stage he didn't think were possible.

The Doctor waited a whole minute before he walked out the doors to the club and left in the direction he had seen Rose go. He was thankful that the streets weren't as busy as they were earlier, that way he wouldn't lose her in the crowd.

He followed at some distance behind her, trying and partly failing not to stare at those tight, short shorts. He saw her visibly shiver and pull her thin coat around her. It failed to stop the rain soaking her to the skin however. Oh how the Doctor longed to go up behind her and wrap his coat around her body, just like he used to do back when she was traveling with him.

This one time he had taken her to what he thought was Yisant Prime in the summer, but it was actually the last day of their summer, and soon the weather had immediately changed to blinding and chilling snow. He was in his last body then, and he had wrapped her up in his enormous trench coat as they tried to find their way back to the TARDIS. He then had taken her to the den in front of a cosy fireplace and she had snuggled up against him while he read her Harry Potter until she fell asleep.

The Doctor was so distracted in his reminiscing he nearly missed Rose dart around the corner into an alley way. He sped up, hoping he hadn't lost her.

As soon as he rounded the corner he was shoved back against the wall and he felt a blinding, burning substance in his eyes. He shouted as someone pounced on him.

"I saw you watching me all night," Belle said, her fingers clutching his neck, "What are you, some kind of stalker? I can take care of myself you know."

"Rose, Rose," he gasped, trying to clear his eyes of the mace she had sprayed at him while also trying to remove her fingers from his windpipe. "Rose, it's me, the Doctor!" He immediately felt her grip release him. He took in a deep breath and through watery eyes he saw a flash of confusion cross her face. Suddenly she raised her hand and sprayed him again. He shouted, stumbling back and falling on his rear. "Stop!" He scurried backwards as she advanced on him.

"Did you know I was here?" She yelled at him, pointing in the direction of the club.

"No, no I swear, I just came in there for a drink." He flinched as she pointed the mace at him again. "Will you quit that? What is that stuff anyway?" It wasn't like the regular mace he was usually assaulted with. It stung more and seemed to be only in his eyes, even though she had sprayed his entire face.

"Anton Mace." She replied. "I can spray it anywhere and it always heads for the eyes. Way more effective than regular mace." She lowered it, before pocketing it and walking away.

"Wait!" The Doctor cried, leaping up and chasing after her. She spun back around, baring the Anton once again. He quickly snatched it from her. She growled and glared at him. The Doctor was suddenly speechless, unsure of what to say.

Belle stood there for a minute, looking at him, clearly angry. After he still didn't say anything, she turned back around and strode away. She walked a few feet and turned back to him.

"Don't follow me home." She warned. As she walked she continued to glance back at him to make sure he had listened.

The Doctor stood there in the rain, unsure of what to do while his Rose Tyler left. He didn't move for a long time, watching the direction in which she had gone. Finally he turned around and went in the other direction where his TARDIS was.

* * *

The next morning Belle heard the ringing of the bell downstairs of her apartment complex. She wrapped her fuzzy robe tighter around her body and turned on the monitor that showed who had rung for her room. She twisted her mouth in displeasure, seeing the same man outside from last night who had said was the Doctor.

"I told you not to follow me," she growled.

"I didn't! I merely found out where you live and came the next day, which happens to be today. Can I come up?"

"No, you may not! You attacked me last night!"

"I seem to remember you were the one doing the attacking."

"That doesn't matter. You should have left me alone, I was doing just fine and-" while she continued talking, the Doctor discreetly pulled out his sonic behind his back and hit a few buttons, before entering the door and darting upstairs. He heard the end of her rant as he reached the door to her apartment. "You have no right to just walk into my life and-" he heard a scream of surprise as he knocked on her door and gave a soft chuckle. She flung the door open. The Doctor couldn't help but stare at Rose, her robe had slipped open slightly, exposing a tank top that only covered half her torso and short _short _pyjama shorts.

"How are you doing that?" Rose motioned to the monitor, where he apparently was still standing outside staring at the camera. He flipped the sonic in his hand.

"Feedback loop." He grinned as he entered her flat.

"I didn't say you could come in." She switched off the monitor and followed him into the kitchen and frowned. He had managed to disassemble her toaster in a matter of seconds. He mouthed 'sorry' as he swept the pieces into a pile on her counter.

"Rose, I just want to talk to you."

"Don't. Call me that." She pointed a finger at him menacingly. "That's not me. I'm-"

"Belle de Jour. Yes I heard. But that's not your name, that's the name of a c-" he immediately closed his mouth.

"A what?" She glared at him. "Say it." No response. "Say it!" She shouted.

"A call girl, a hooker, a-a woman you pay to enjoy!"

***SMACK!***

The Doctor reeled back, clutching his cheek. "Well, isn't that what you are?" He asked in defense.

"Yes, it is. But I decide what I can be called, not anybody else!" She left the room and flopped on the couch, resigning to the fact that this new, new, new Doctor wasn't going anywhere. _"No, don't think of him like that."_ She didn't care who he was, she just wanted him gone. She picked up a gentleman's magazine with a bare photo of her on the front and flipped through it, mentioning to him offhandedly. "Besides, I thought you liked those kind of women." She didn't look at him as he stood next to her chair.

"What? No I...wait, are you talking about Reinette?" That was so long ago he couldn't even remember the concubine's face. "She wasn't even close what you would call...well, one of those! Plus we, we never..."

"And what about the kissogram? Did she 'fall in love' with you too?"

"Amy?! How do you even know about her?!" He was irritated now. He cared for his ginger girl greatly and didn't like her being referred to so casually, especially since he had just lost her.

"I hacked into the TARDIS database on my computer last night, Geez, one would think her mother was a bloody Kelsadorian giraffe." His mind was buzzing with sudden questions but he refrained from asking more about how she was able to hack into the TARDIS' impenetrable database with an ordinary computer. Either the TARDIS had let her in or Rose was lying. Possibly both. But all things in the right time and first things first and all that nonsense.

The Doctor knelt down beside her chair and tried not to look at the enticing cover of the magazine on her lap. He saw the corner of her mouth upturn in a smile, as if she noticed his discomfort and enjoyed it.

"Just come with me. Belle." He felt dirty even calling her that, but he'd call her the Archduke if only she'd come back to the TARDIS with him.

"Give me one good reason." She challenged him. The Doctor looked down, knowing his next words were critical. Too emotional, and she'd scoff at him. Not enough and she wouldn't believe him. Finally he realised something she had just said.

"You hacked into the TARDIS' computer last night. You obviously wanted to know what I have been up to since you...since you left." She turned her head away in scorn, so he quickly continued."There's a reason why you didn't just forget about our meeting last night." She turned her eyes back to him, scowling. He didn't let it deter him. "When I went to the Wicked Wolf I didn't know you were there, honest. I've just found you and I want to try again. And I don't think I'm the only one." She narrowed her eyes at him, and the Doctor could see the gears working inside her head, wondering if he was being sincere, and whether she really wanted to go. He hoped her life here wasn't satisfying enough that she'd say no. Finally she stood up and left the room, walking down the hallway to what he assumed was her bedroom. He furrowed his eyebrows. Was that a yes or a no? Was she expecting him to leave now, because he wasn't. Not until she came out that door with him. So he decided to wait.

He sat on the couch and turned the magazine over so the cover was facing down. The backside wasn't much better, but at least he wasn't looking at Rose like that. No matter who she thought she was now, somewhere deep inside she was still his pure, innocent Rose, and he wasn't going to defile her by seeing her like that.

Five minutes later she came out, shouldering a bag filled with belongings. The Doctor opened his mouth, about to remind her that her things were still on the TARDIS, but then realised she probably didn't want to wear stuff like that anymore. Even now she was clothed in a pair of tight leather pants that looked like they were painted on, and a thin see-through red tank top. Her makeup was still thick like last night, not soft and subtle like it used to be.

He rethought his earlier assessment. His pure, innocent Rose was far, far deeper inside than he originally thought. It might just take a miracle to get her back.

* * *

**Yes, the name Belle de Jour did come from Secret Diary of a Call Girl. I just love the name so much I think it fit well here. The song "Wish You Were Here" is by Avril Lavigne (edited slightly to fit Belle's situation).**

**Oh man I'm so excited, I just finished another story of mine and I really want to publish it! (I like it just as much as this one) and it's a sequel and I need to publish the first...gah! Lots of good stuff coming this summer :D**

**Oh! By the way before I forget I published another chapter of "The Phone Call" where the younger Ten hunts down the older one for endangering his relationship with Rose. :D**


	3. Chapter Two - Lies and Confusion

**Yeah, it was a bit weird Rose, er...I mean Belle, decided to just jump along into the TARDIS. But maybe they're being drawn together...or maybe there'll be an explanation before this fic is over ;) There's about nine chapters in all I think.**

**Tiny bit of violence in this chapter, along with an awkward situation, if you know what I mean ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Lies and Confusion**

"_Won't you be my bad boy, be my man, be my weekend lover, but don't be my friend. You can be my bad boy, but understand that I don't need you again. No I don't need you again..." _

The Doctor watched Rose's face closely as they stepped inside the TARDIS. Her eyes widened a bit, seeing the spaceship had changed its interior. She then realised the time lord was staring at her and her face returned to its previously impassive state.

"I didn't change it right after you left, if you were wondering."

"I wasn't." She replied bluntly. Her eyes flicked over to him though, wondering if he was going to continue. He noticed the movement.

"Just after I regenerated, nearly blew up the entire ship with my regeneration energy that I held in for so long. I went to see you y'know, on New Year's-"

"I bet you're gonna have a really great year." She interrupted, a far off look in her eyes as she quoted him. The Doctor shut his mouth.

"You remember?" She looked away from him, obviously not wanting him to see her expression. Her fingers rose up to fiddle with the zipper of her coat.

"How couldn't I? I'm...I was a time traveler, I could feel my time line changing as you did it. Not hard to figure out that was you." The silence that hung between them was thick and awkward. "Well, I...I'm going to put my stuff away." The Doctor kept his mouth shut as she hiked up the stairs, guessing that her bedroom was still up there. It hadn't been, for a while, after House deleted all the rooms, but the sentimental old ship had dumped all her stuff in a corner of the console room and the Doctor was able to replicate it, best as he could. Hopefully she wouldn't notice. She already had so much that could set her off without that adding to it.

The Doctor walked over to the console, faced with another daunting choice. Where could he take her that would be nostalgic yet not so much it would upset her?

Ah yes. Kelsador 2. Mostly an ocean planet, but with beaches and pier carnivals. A bit of fun should loosen her up. He set the coördinates and waited patiently for his former companion to come back out.

And when she did, she looked the same, except maybe her eyeliner retouched, but with the same look of mild indifference on her face.

"Kelsador 2, do you remember?" He asked, his lips holding a touch of a smile. She didn't reply, only nodded and unzipped her coat, throwing it on the Captain's chair. She obviously remembered the heat.

* * *

The Doctor squinted in the sunlight as he stepped out before Rose. He turned around to see if she had followed. He straightened his brown jacket as she stepped out beside him. He watched her face closely and caught a flash of what he was looking for. It was under a millisecond but it was that look of wonder and excitement at being on a new planet, albeit one she had visited before. It happened in a fraction of a second but his quick eyes caught it, and it filled him with unspeakable joy.

"So, what do you want to do first?" She shrugged. The Doctor went to grab her hand and she didn't shy away, nor did she make any move to return his grip, only holding it lightly. The Doctor took it as a good sign and pulled her towards the beach-side café.

* * *

They sat in silence for a few minutes after they had ordered their food. Finally the Doctor began recounting to her the last time they had been there.

"-And remember, the fire-eater collided with the waitress and the roof nearly caught on fire?" He was grinning, but it fell as Rose stood up, mumbling that she needed a drink. The Doctor watched her go sadly. He was frankly at a loss of what to do. She seemed to love this new persona she'd acquired. How do you save someone when they're having the time of their life?

Already he saw her first real smile, and it wasn't directed at him, rather at an Andorian Pirate at the bar who leaned in just a little too close to her face. The Doctor thought she was going to kiss him and he began contemplating the quickest way to break his spine, but at the last minute she shoved him away playfully, coming back over to the table the Doctor was sitting at. She held a drink out for him and he took it, noticing it was a different color than hers. He took a sniff and confirmed. His drink was a mild blue Isotopor, while hers was the fiery red Kreddle, potent and burning. A very strong drink, equivalent to vodka in Earth standards

"Do you think you should be drinking that?" He said as he sipped at his Isotopor slowly. She downed half of it in one go.

"Why, think I'm not strong enough?" She finished it within another gulp. She sighed in pleasure. "I'll have you knew this is mild compared to some of the stuff I've had."

"I never meant that you weren't strong enough, it's just...I wish you wouldn't." She raised an eyebrow at him, contemplating if she should be mad or indifferent. She decided on indifferent.

* * *

"Do you want to give it a go?"

"No, you go ahead." The Doctor nodded as he tossed the baseball in his hand. He steered away from the shooting games and had instead opted for something a little less violent. If you didn't look at it from the viewpoint of the glass bottles. He knocked them all over in one try and got a stuffed lizard for his trouble. He tried to give it to Rose but she pointed to a little boy crying a few yards away. The Doctor grinned at her idea and went to go give it to her. She still had compassion. Even if it was just a tactic to keep him from getting too romantic. It was a start, and the Doctor wasn't going to look a gift TARDIS in the rotor.

After that the Doctor took Rose to the edge of the dock by the water and left her there while he went and got Kelli Dogs, Kelsador 2's equivalent of a hot dog. When he came back he handed her her food along with a spiced nonalcoholic drink. Their legs dangled over the edge of the pier and the Doctor watched with enjoyment as fish swam in schools in the green water below. She was being awfully quiet. His mouth opened and he immediately shut it again. He had been rambling enough today, maybe her mind needed more time to process.

So they sat there together in silence. And for a moment, just a moment, the years were lost between them and it was like nothing bad had ever happened.

* * *

As they were walking back to the TARDIS, the Doctor had the sudden need to sonic a strange looking device floating in the ocean a few feet away from where they were walking. Ordinarily he wouldn't but it was giving off some strange radiation readings. He was disappointed with the results.

"Rose, it looks like it's just a piece of debris, the risidual radiation is no harm any-" As he had been talking he had turned around to show the results of the sonic to her, but what he saw made him forget the rest of his sentence. That same Andorian pirate at the bar that had been too handsy was now kissing his Rose, and from the way she was struggling against him, it wasn't of her own volition. The Doctor's vision went red and he lost control of his ability to hold back.

"Oi, didn't you see she's with me? Or are too much of a glogblo to see?" He pulled him off Rose, and the pirate was so surprised he couldn't even raise a hand as the Doctor decked him across the cheek. The rogue fell to the ground with a 'thud'. The Doctor turned to Rose, his back to the pirate. From behind, Rose saw him get up, brandishing a sick looking dagger.

"Doctor, look out!" She shoved him out of the way and cried out as the knife plunged into her stomach. She collapsed to her knees at the Doctor's feet.

"No!" He started to chase after the Andorian pirate, but he had taken off. The Doctor knelt at Rose's side as she shivered in pain, the Doctor's hearts clenching in fear and dread.

"Go...back to the TARDIS...he'll be back with more."

"I'm not leaving you!" He yelled adamantly, his eyes filled with unshed tears.

"You have to. J-just get me to that boulder and I'll be able to hide." The Doctor was forced to agree. He had no weapons and there was no way he could defend Rose with just a sonic screwdriver. Making a quick decision, he hauled her up bridal style and carried her over behind the large boulder. As he set her down he looked at her one last time.

"Stay quiet." He begged as he ran off. As soon as he was gone the look of pain disappeared from Rose's face. She stood up and pulled the blade out of her side nonchalantly, pocketing it. Who knows, she might be able to use it, plus she liked shiny, dangerous things. The blood dissipated off her wound like nothing had ever been there. Even the hole in her tank top disappeared. She'd have to get to the TARDIS quickly before the Doctor did something rash. She took off at a run.

As the TARDIS loomed in sight in front of her, Rose heard the door to the police box open, knowing the Doctor would soon stride out, possibly with some sort of weapon in hand. He abhorred those kind of things, but he tended to do stupid things whenever it meant her safety. Sentimental fool.

So she stopped running and put a hand back over where her wound had been previously. With a single thought blood returned and soaked up her shirt again. She hunched over in fake pain right when the Doctor burst out, Jack's sonic blaster in his hand. _Where did he even get that?_ (Probably ripped it off the former Time Agent when he was still his companion.)

"Rose!" He cried, running up to her. "Where are they? I wouldn't have left you, except I needed this." He waved the blaster around, clearly not knowing how it worked.

"Forget about them, they were arrested." she lied. He wouldn't take it well if he knew they suddenly disintegrated into dust. "Just help me inside."

"B-but how did you get the knife out, the strength to make it here so fast?" Bloody hell, he was asking too many questions, so Rose let out a cry and collapsed into his arms, shutting her mind down to appear as if she had gone unconscious. Good thing too, she was feeling especially tired as of late. The Doctor hoisted her up in his arms and took off into the TARDIS, whispering "I'm sorry" the whole way.

That night, the Doctor helped Rose hobble into the den, where the lights were dimmed and a roaring fire simulation threw a flickering light out of the fireplace. The Doctor was oblivious that Rose wasn't actually hurt at all, her wound had been carefully cleaned by delicate hands and bandaged well, like she was a porcelain doll treated by an avid collector.

"It's a good thing the knife didn't puncture an organ or something." he had said earlier. Rose chuckled ruefully. It had hurt like hell when the blade entered her spleen, but the recovery had been nearly instantaneous and the Doctor had never been the wiser. Rose gave a (seemingly) involuntary grunt as the Doctor set her on the couch in front of the fire and tried to make her as comfortable as possible.

After she was settled the Doctor sat down next to her and tried not to stare at her chest as it rose and fell with laboured breaths. He lost. Apparently his lust was strong enough for Rose to notice, because when she caught his eye she threw her blanket off and began to crawl on top of him.

"Rose?" He asked, hating how husky his voice sounded. "W-what are you doing?" All thoughts of her injury were forgotten as the smell of her perfume assailed his nostrils.

"Shh." She whispered, bringing her lips to his, her legs straddling him like a saddle. The Doctor couldn't stop the (this time definitely involuntary) moan of pleasure that escaped out of his lips. He allowed himself to get lost in her kiss, the rush of passion he had for her held in for so, so long, the feeling of her body against his, her knees digging into his waist. She brought his head up directly in line with hers and kissed him with the skill of someone who had done this for years, who knew just which buttons to push, in more ways than one.

But as soon as her hands reached down and began to undo the buttons on his shirt, the Doctor was forcefully snapped back to reality.

"Rose, what are you doing?" He repeated, this time with conviction. However, his voice was still rough with conflicting emotion. Her hands immediately stopped and she sat up, staring at him in confusion.

"I thought you wanted this." She replied plainly, much too plainly for the moment.

"No, I mean yes, I mean..._damn_." He adored her so much, he could even admit that he loved her, but this new Rose was broken, only a piece of the amazing woman she had been before, and didn't even know it. Or maybe she did, but it didn't really matter. Taking advantage of her now would ruin everything he was striving to accomplish for her.

She took his silence as an okay to kiss him again. The Doctor immediately put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back upright. Her eyes shone with confusion and her hands fell back at her sides.

"I don't think we should do this now." Her confusion only grew, and in turn, looked more and more innocent, despite what she was about to do. If not for the position she was in, he would think he had never seen the Belle de Jour Rose more innocent than at that moment. Her face was like a child who didn't understand. "I mean, there's nothing, absolutely nothing I'd rather do instead but...but-"

"I'm capable, if that's what...oh, you're not ready."

"No! No, it's not that. I-I just think you should go to bed."

"But it's what you want, what all men only think about." To demonstrate she leaned over his lips and breathed out. The Doctor had to close his eyes and shut down his olfactory systems to stay on track.

"Is that what you think about me?" He was a little hurt by that. "You know better than most that's not true. At least you used to." With that he set her down beside him and stood up. She sat there on the couch with a scowl on her face, arms crossed like that same innocent child put out.

"I learned from experience." She spat. The Doctor stood there staring at her, wondering about the back stories behind her words. He debated departing and going to bed, but he didn't want to leave her in this vulnerable state. He sat down next to her and put her hands in his own. She almost pulled away, but the look in his eyes stopped her.

"I'm sorry you see the universe like this, everything you went through that ruined all the good in your life. I wish I could go back and change it. I really do." Rose didn't reply, just stared at him for a few seconds. If she didn't take that as an apology, the Doctor didn't know what he'd do next.

Finally, she stood up and walked away. The Doctor sighed in defeat as she went, but she stopped in the doorway. The Doctor didn't see it because he wasn't looking directly at her but her eyes were lightly shining gold, as it always did when she got overprotective of herself.

"You may not like it, but this is who I am now. If you still want me to travel with you, that's fine, but don't try to change me or wish I was that same girl again. Belle is who I am, Rose Tyler is dead."

With that she left the room, leaving the Doctor in despair of things ever being the same again.

* * *

Rose never tried to kiss him again, nor did she ask him to call her Belle. (She rightly suspected it would be useless). If it bothered her, she never said. Their relationship didn't grow, nor did it stay stale, though never achieving what it had been before. The Doctor would take her places, study her, watch her reactions, make note of every single little thing she said.

And at night, after she went to bed, he would take all those mental notes, head deep, deep into the TARDIS and into a locked room. Inside that locked room were three boards filled with pictures and info regarding everything the Doctor knew about Rose Tyler and Belle de Jour. He'd work in there all night long, piecing together what new thing she had said that day, strategizing a new way to get his Rose back.

But he was missing a few huge pieces: what had happened to the Metacrisis he had given her, how she had gotten back to this universe, how many years had passed since then, what she had done in those years, and the one big secret she insisted on hiding from him, something to do with the Bad Wolf.

He had a picture of the Metacrisis taped in the center of the middle white board. He took a big black marker and circled it three times and put a '?' mark next to it. The Doctor suspected that he was the key to figuring out who Belle de Jour was, and where Rose Tyler had gone.

* * *

**I'm really trying not to see all the parallels between "In the Dark" and "Stone Heart". But safely to say, the characters' backstories are different and the ending is clearly not the same. **

**OH before I forget I have a trailer video for this that I made! Due to copyright issues if you want to see it I need to send it to you. Send me a personal message and give me your email, PLEASE remember to use lots of spaces as possible aka - rosetyler at badwolf . com - Exactly like that, okay? Thanks, it's really good, I promise :)**


	4. Chapter Three - A Fistful of Roses

**Longer chapter today :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of DW or its characters, no matter how much I wish I did...**

* * *

**Chapter 3: A Fistful of Roses**

"_You once made this promise to stay by my side, but after some time you just pushed me aside. You never thought that a girl could be strong, Now I'll show you how to go on..." _

The Doctor treated Rose like a set time bomb. He was careful – very careful – not to step over any boundaries, his own and Rose's. She never asked him to take her back to the bar he had found her in, so at least that was a good sign. But why was she sticking around? Their relationship was awkward at best and at worst he nearly dodged one of her fists (or one of her shoes that one time).

The Doctor figured that she either enjoyed their travels (though she didn't show it) or deep down she was begging for him to help her find herself again (no matter how vehemently she would deny it).

Ever since the incident with the Andorian pirate, the Doctor had avoided taking Rose to any places he knew were violent or war zones. But one day they landed in America, California to be exact, in 1853. The dirt streets of Santa Barbara were nasty and rowdy.

For the first time the Doctor had gotten Rose to change into something that fit the time period better, but her tight blue dress was so low-cut the Doctor avoided even looking at her lest he be blinded.

Although he was uncomfortable with the number of gunshots he had heard in the last minute, he was glad the town was large, loud and densely populated. It helped distance himself from the last time he had been in this era.

_"This is why you can't travel alone. This is what you become." _It would do him no good now to think of Amy and Rory. This regeneration was great at ignoring the past and moving on like nothing bad had ever happened to him. Maybe that was why he was having such a hard time with Rose. She wanted nothing to do with her past, and the Doctor wanted nothing more than to run from his own.

"So, California, 1853, at the height of the California Gold Rush. People from all over the nation rushed to this side of the world to make a fortune that 99% of them would never see. The ones that made the true fortunes were the people who lived here, the suppliers, the hotel owners, the horse traders. The ones manning the bars and casinos-"

"Humans." Rose interrupted with a tinge of bitterness. "Always after money. So much more to life than living from paycheck to paycheck." The Doctor took note of that. To view humans outside of yourself was to view yourself above them, as he knew from honest experience. He didn't want to be right but his hunch said she was either a human who had lived a lot longer than the average one, or she wasn't human at all. He really hoped both his theories were wrong.

The pair walked through a pair of wooden swinging doors and into a bar. The Doctor felt the flash of a memory again.

_"Tea! But the strong stuff. Leave the bag in." _How he had tried to act so tough then. This time, no acting. Just the real him for his companion to see.

He was jerked out of his reverie as he noticed Rose had left his side in favor of a stool at the bar. With more grace than he thought she had, she flipped her dress around to make room for her legs under the counter.

"Scotch please, strongest you've got." She said to the old bartender. He nodded and did her bidding. The Doctor had pieced together why he thought she drank so much. It was not in rebellion or even as an escape. It was a way to find herself. When alcohol was in her system, her inhibitions were released and she could act outside of the way she was raised. Didn't mean he had to approve of it.

"Is strong drink your answer to everything?" Rose didn't reply, merely shrugged. They had already been through this before. Instead of rehashing it all again, he pulled up the stool next to her and sat down. After she would consume enough of her drink, her face would relax as she felt throughout her system, and then she would be ready to explore wherever the TARDIS had brought them. He knew this because it had already happened half a dozen times previously.

Just as he already knew, soon Rose was ready to go. She stood up and flashed the Doctor a strained smile – one he was more than familiar with since he had found her again. His hearts ached, seeing that innocent smile in his head, the cheeky one with her tongue poking out of her teeth. He wished more than anything he could see it again.

* * *

The day seemed to go by slowly. Nothing popped out at them, no alien threats, not even a shootout worth watching. Within an hour the Doctor was getting restless. When Rose announced she was ready to go back, the Doctor released a relieved sigh.

On the way back to the TARDIS Rose allowed him to hold her arm in his. The two of them were silent on the way back, but it was a more comfortable silence than it had usually been.

As they neared the Time Lord's blue box, the Doctor snapped his fingers and the doors swung open. Rose threw a questioning look at her traveling partner, but chose not to break the silence. Instead she released his arm and attempted to step inside the time machine.

But the minute her foot touched the doorway she was thrown forcefully back and landed on her behind, skidding a bit on the dirt road. The doors to the TARDIS slammed shut.

"Rose!" The Doctor cried, rushing to her side.

"What the hell was that?" She cried as he helped her up.

"I don't know, she's never done that before, and normally she likes you." The Doctor clicked his fingers again and the doors swung back open. Going warily, the Doctor put his own foot inside the ship. Nothing happened, so he stepped all the way in. He held his arms out in question. Rose really didn't want to, but she tried again.

Ten seconds later she picked herself off the ground for a second time, her eyes flashing in anger.

"Okay, so it's just me then. What did I do?"

"Hold on a sec." The Doctor walked inside the TARDIS and brought up the scanner. "There's some sort of substance inside your body that the TARDIS wants us to remove before we leave." He shouted out to her.

"What sort of substance?" She asked him as he stepped back out. "Is it harmful? And where did it come from?" She grumbled to herself as she straightened her dress. There could have been an easier way to let them know rather than getting her backside this sore. As she thought it she felt a wave of apologies from the sentient ship, but Rose ignored them. She was still too angry, so the TARDIS retreated out of her head guiltily. The Doctor replied to her as he stepped out.

"No, it's not harmful, but it came from here, and we need to find the origin." He pulled out his sonic and waved it around. "It's not in the air, which makes sense because it's not inside me, so what..."

"The alcohol!" Rose shouted. They looked at each other and realised at the same time. Rose hitched up her skirt and the two of them sprinted down the boardwalk to the bar they had been in only an hour ago. They burst inside and immediately stopped, the wooden doors swinging shut behind them.

"They're all asleep!" Indeed, all the patrons, even the bartender, had their heads resting on tables, chairs, even one or two were snoring the floor. "Doctor, the entire town is quiet." They hadn't noticed it as they were running but now that they thought about it, they hadn't seen a soul. The Doctor joined her where she stood at the window. "But they haven't all consumed the alcohol, have they? Not everyone was here." The Doctor rushed to the counter and sniffed a glass filled with the liquid. He grimaced and scanned it with his screwdriver.

"It's released the same substance that's inside you. I couldn't sense it before because it's concentrated inside the building. Possibility the other ones too. It's spreading like a virus. Fascinating."

"Doctor, I don't...I..." The Doctor turned to her and gasped as she began to lose her balance. He ran over and caught her.

"No Rose, you have to stay awake!" He needed her help with this, she always knew the right thing to say that helped him solve mysteries like this sooner. Plus, he couldn't be sure that she could wake up again. He had to find the source of the sleeping poison, who was behind this, and how to reverse it.

"Doctor," Rose gasped, her head lolling in his direction. "Who...whoever did this thinks we're all asleep now...he won't hesitate to enact what he's planned to do."

"Oh, my brilliant Rose!" In a bold move he kissed her forehead, which got him a scowl from his companion. He didn't care. "You've done it again. Now come on, don't fall asleep on me."

"I...I should be stronger than this." Her brow creased into a frown.

"No, no excuses, come on." Rose closed her eyes and the Doctor thought he had lost her, but what she was really doing was fighting. But she wasn't as strong as she had been before, she had grown weaker within the past few years. The substance within her was stronger than she was at this moment. Still, she continued to struggle to stay awake, and after a few more seconds she felt a golden warmth fill her insides and soon the substance was held at bay, at least for a few minutes. Her eyes snapped open and the Doctor laughed in relief.

"That's my girl, come on." He helped her up, but she was a little unsteady on her feet.

"I've got fifteen minutes at most, we have to hurry." The Doctor nodded, before exploring the saloon. He found a stack of crates in the corner that looked promising. Rose had sat down on one of the chairs (after pulling the former occupant off and to the floor) to reserve her energy. The Doctor pulled off the lid of the top crate and smelled inside. He jerked his head back suddenly.

"Woo! That's it." He hefted a crate full of the alcohol and set it on a table, crashing with a bang due to the heavy weight. "Oh, sorry." One of the men sleeping at the table had his hand trapped under the heavy crate the Doctor had just set down. Rose stood up and walked over to him slowly, holding herself up with the back of chairs.

"How come this isn't affecting you?" Already he had inhaled it twice, and that had been more than the whole town had been exposed to. He grinned.

"Superior biology, remember?" He hadn't said anything like that in a really long time. Oh how he had loved to insult the human race when Rose first traveled with him. One time she had been in his bathroom, sit_ting on his sink, watching him as he was shaving._

_"I never imagined you doing something so...so human." She swung her legs lazily as she watched him, seemingly fascinated. The Doctor avoided looking at the teenager (nearly an adult now, he realised, though she had been for quite a while), instead concentrated on what he was doing._

_ "I bet you never watched ol' Ricky boy doing this." He said to her nonchalantly.  
_

_ "Nope." She popped the 'p'. She had stopped correcting him a long time ago when she realised it was useless. "Never watched him. However I did help him a few times." At that the Doctor's hand slipped in surprise and he cursed, seeing blood appear on his face in the mirror. Rose winced as he continued to curse, before insulting every species he knew alphabetically. After he had reached D and the Draconians, Rose hopped off the bathroom counter and dug around in the medicine cabinet. The Doctor shut his mouth, now his curiosity stronger than his anger._

_ "What are you doing?" He asked as she pulled out some clean cloths._

_ "Fixing you up. Mickey used to cut himself too." The Doctor rolled his eyes._

_ "Will you stop comparing me to your boyfriend?" Rose merely shrugged as she turned on the water. The Doctor wished she would deny the boyfriend part, but she never did. Pity._

_ "I'm sorry." She said as she wiped the blood off his face._

_ "You can't help it if you're human." His northern accent was more defined as she pulled back to glare at him._

_ "I meant for startling you, not because I'm just another stupid ape in your eyes." She snapped harshly. The Doctor furrowed his brow as she leaned closer to clean his cut again._

_ "You're not a stupid ape." he didn't know it, but if he was in his next regeneration he'd be rambling awkwardly, saying everything but what he wanted to. But right now, in this form he spoke the truth as he saw it. "You're not like them. You can't help it that you're one of them, when you're clearly much better than all of them put together." And he meant it. Rose's glare immediately softened. After that whole mess with her father, she didn't think he'd say anything nice like that to her again._

_ Suddenly the Doctor realised how close their faces were. Rose noticed it too, at least he assumed she did because she lowered the hand holding the wet cloth. Her eyes flicked down to his lips and they leaned in together as if in slow motion. _

_ But just as their lips brushed over each other, Rose's cell buzzed, the chorus from"Chumbawumba" blaring from her back pocket. Rose answered it and from what the Doctor could hear, it was her mother, making sure Rose came to her own birthday party, self-centered woman. The Doctor had never hated Jackie more than at that ruined moment. Rose hung up and began putting the med kit away._

_ "That should do it." She said, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. After she had cleaned up, she walked out of the bathroom, stopping in the doorway to flash him a blindingly beautiful smile, before disappearing._

_ The Doctor stood there for a second. He ran a hand over his short-cropped head and felt his face flush with the remembrance of her intoxicating scent so close to him, and yet so far..._

"CBD Brewery." Rose read the outside of the crate. "That's gotta be a lead." Her words were slightly slurred. The Doctor looked at her, still in the memory of that day in the bathroom so long ago. He wished he could be that close to her again, but as the continued to talk, the Doctor realised that this was the most she'd ever said, besides whenever she argued with him. Maybe investigating brought back a side of her he couldn't get back on his own. With a jump he continued at the task at hand.

"Yes! CBD Brewery, best lead we've got! C'mon!" he rushed out the door, before hearing Rose's sigh of frustration and rushing back to help her out.

* * *

Rose felt it in the pit of her stomach. She knew she only had minutes before she'd succumb to the sleep poison. She wanted to let the Doctor know, but she didn't want to him begin wondering why she had been able to fight in the first place.

The Bad Wolf used to be so powerful within her, but that had been a long time ago and with each of her own wound she healed, every cough and sickness she eradicated from her body, the golden entity grew weaker and weaker. She suspected that once the last of the Bad Wolf was gone, her life would be over, and she welcomed it, already knowing she'd been given too many years on her own than what she wanted.

But the Doctor couldn't know that. He'd fight it with all of his power and try to save her, exactly the opposite of what she wanted.

This substance in her body could not be eradicated at her strength, and it was zapping her energy fast. Maybe if she gave in now, she'd be able to conserve some energy for a little while longer. She welcomed Death, but only when it came for her and there was no turning back. No, it wasn't her time yet.

"Rose!" The Doctor cried as she suddenly dropped unconscious in the middle of the street. "No!" He couldn't lose her now, he had to make sure she'd be able to wake up again. As he held her in his arms in the dirt road, he saw a flash of green light in the sky. He watched as something like a shield enveloped the entire town. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to bad, and he had to stop it soon if wanted to save Santa Barbara and his beloved companion.

But first he had to make sure Rose was safe. He couldn't take her back to the TARDIS, so a bed in one of the hotels would have to do. Seven minutes and twelve seconds later she was tucked in the bed in room 15, and the key to the locked door was placed in one of the Doctor's inside jacket pockets.

When the Doctor ran outside the hotel and out onto the street, he skidded to a stop, his boots causing a small dust cloud around him. Coming down the street towards him were twenty figures all dressed in black, their blue skin a sharp contrast to the browns and tans around them.

"Josnians." The Doctor spat in disgust as he brandished his sonic screwdriver. Josnians were rude, power hungry and didn't care at all for anyone who wasn't Josnian. A few of the aliens parted to let through a figure who was a head taller than the rest. He looked a tad surprised, probably because the man standing before him wasn't asleep like the rest of the town.

"Cyril BeDae," he introduced himself as the two stood in front of each other. "Would you care to join me for a drink?"

"Cyril BeDae? CBD Brewery? And don't bother, your foul substance has no effect on me." Cyril scowled, knowing the Doctor was telling the truth.

"Shoot him." He ordered bluntly.

"Wait wait wait!" The Doctor cried and raised his hands as the men around Cyril raised their laser pistols. "Josnians are all about experiments aren't they? Is this town a part of some twisted scientific study?" He wouldn't put it past them. Cyril waved his six-fingered hand and the guns were lowered.

"Indeed. You are correct. We're developing a specific anesthesia that can be released in a radius of over twenty kilometers. This town's sacrifice will further the prosperity of the Josnian Empire."

"Sacrifice?" The Doctor's voice rose with every word. "No, not while I'm here. I'm the Doctor, and this city is under my protection!" BeDae merely looked bored at this interruption. He snapped a finger and the green shield above them began to pulsate, before disappearing to show a large spaceship in the air above them. It started slowly at first when a couple of white lights floated out of the saloon and shot up to the spaceship. The Doctor instinctively knew that these were the life forces of the humans who had fallen asleep. Within a few minutes white lights were floating out of all the buildings in Santa Barbara. The general store, the stables, the hotel...the Doctor's horror grew as he saw one that was golden instead of white.

"Rose." He gasped, feeling helpless to stop any of this. He turned back to BeDae, the Oncoming Storm rising up in him. "You are violating the laws set down by the Shadow Proclamation by taking these people for your selfish desire for progress."

"The Shadow Proclamation has no jurisdiction here, the Josnian Empire strikes fear in the hearts of the weak."

"I think you'll find I'm not as weak as you first assumed." He looked up in surprise as the Josnian ship began to grow gold. A buzz went off: Cyril's communicator. From where he was, the Doctor heard every word.

_"Captain BeDae, we need help!" _BeDae nodded and all the men around him except three beamed back up to the ship. The Captain stood there in worried silence but all that came through the communicator were untranslatable shouts and static. Finally the same voice that spoke from before came again. _"There's a problem with the containment unit, the life forces, we can't hold-" _The last words were cut off as the ship suddenly exploded, raining white lights back down on them. The Doctor smiled in giddy joy and pride as the lights went back inside to find their hosts. He watched the golden one in particular as it found the hotel and went inside. "That's my girl." The Doctor's grin grew even bigger as he saw men, women and children coming out of the buildings.

He felt a sort of déjà vu as he felt his eyes search desperately for his companion. Only when their eyes finally connected, she merely gave him a small smile instead of them rushing together dramatically for a big embrace like a cheesy romance movie. Like old times.

The Doctor shook his head, forcing himself to return to the current task at hand. While all this had been happening, Cyril BeDae and his three men were standing there in shock, knowing they were stranded.

"But...what happened, everything was going good then suddenly...No, we prepared for everything!" Cyril tried to gather some sort of data off his communicator but nothing was working for him.

Not bothering to wipe the prideful '_I did tell you so but you were too self-important to listen to me' _look, he waltzed up to Cyril and the other Josnians. At the same time he saw the Sheriff of Santa Barbara standing a more metres away, confused as hell as to what he should do, or what was even happening.

"Sheriff!" The Doctor waved him over "I think you'll find these are the ones who tried to kill your whole town." The Sheriff's eyes widened as he saw the blue-skinned aliens with spots and six fingers.

"What the hell are they though?"

"Illegal aliens." The Doctor said with a cheeky smile at his bad pun, one the old Rose would have laughed at. "Lock them up until the right authorities take them." The Sheriff's confused look only grew while Cyril's men shared a concerned glance.

"Right authorities?" At this the Doctor turned frustrated and pulled out his psychic paper. After the Sheriff read it, he whipped out his gun and led Cyril and his men away.

"What did it say?" The Doctor turned around and saw Rose standing behind him.

"No idea." He said, grinning. "Isn't it better that way sometimes? Anyway, the Shadow Proclamation will be here soon to beam them away. If the Sheriff looked shocked before, then imagine when they are-" the rest of his sentence was interrupted as he noticed Rose beginning to lose her footing again. He caught her before she fell.

"M'fine." she tried to push his hands off her but she was too weak.

"Nope, I'm taking you to the TARDIS and straight to the Med Bay. Who knows what that substance did to you." At this Rose's eyes widened in horror but she was unable to protest. The Doctor swept her up bridal style and carried her back to his home.

* * *

**Heehee, those old Josnians! Hopefully some of you will recognize those experiment-loving aliens from my Nine/Rose fic "Slowly Losing You". I love them so much I wanted to use them again :D BeDae wasn't as much fun to write as Commander Savo though ;)  
**

**Please remember, all of us writers aren't doing this for any sort of pay. We take precious time out of our lives for fun of course (and because we love the characters we are writing about) and the only thing we reap out of doing this is your reviews. So please, not just for me but for any authors' story you read, even just a couple words is greatly appreciated! Thanks :)  
**

**Don't forget to ask for the trailer I made for this :))**


	5. Chapter 4-In Most HonestyXAn Old Friend

**Thankies for all the kind reviews amazing and brilliant Whovians! :D**

**Just to be clear, yes I know the Doctor is being selfish in trying to fix Rose, but I wrote it that way on purpose.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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**Chapter Four: In Most Honesty/An Old Friend**

"_Be my bad boy, be my man. Be my weekend lover but don't be my friend. You can be my bad boy, but understand that I don't need you in my life again..." _

By the time the Doctor got Rose back to the Med Bay, she had gained enough of her strength to stand on her own. After the Doctor set her down she backed away from him.

"Please don't do this, I'm fine." She implored.

"No, you're not." He sighed, seeing she wasn't going to budge. "If you won't let me look at you, I at least deserve an explanation. Your life force blew up a ship for bloody sake!" His sonic had picked up scans of the debris from the Josnian ship and he knew what had really happened. But Cyril and his men would forever be in the dark, both metaphorically and physically, after the Shadow Proclamation would pick them up. Rose looked down, and the Doctor feared she was shutting herself down as well. Finally she conceded, speaking so quietly it was nearly a whisper. The Doctor knew he'd have more to add to his board tonight.

"I didn't notice it at first, but I don't age like a normal human. I'd say about a year for every fifty."

"Bad Wolf?" She nodded. How could it be anything else? "How old are you?" She set a hand on the counter beside her and leaned against it, looking old and tired.

"356." At this the Doctor turned his head away, clearly distressed. He ran a hand through his hair and turned back to her.

"I'm sorry, I wouldn't have left you there with the Meta-"

"No!" She shouted suddenly. Her voice lowered back down with her next words. "Don't go there. I don't want to hear it." But did she not want to hear his apology, or any mention of the clone he left her behind with? He decided wisely to stay away from both. He went a different route instead.

"What have you been doing all these years?" Rose pursed her lips.

"You wanted an explanation, I gave it to you." With that, she walked out of the Med Bay, leaving the Doctor standing there. He tried to stay calm, but his frustration and temper grew with each second and burst all at once as he grabbed a mug he'd left there earlier and threw it against the far wall with an angry shout. The mug shattered on contact and old tea splattered down the wall.

The Doctor was mad, not at Rose, but at himself and the circumstances he had put her through. He shouldn't have let her go in the first place. Hell, he shouldn't have made her go home from the Game Station.

Then they'd both be dead, and probably better off than where they were now.

The Doctor drew in a few deep calming breaths as he watched the TARDIS absorb his shattered mess into her walls, cleaning it completely.

"Thanks dear." If only he could clean up this mess he'd made of Rose so easily.

* * *

Meanwhile Rose had gone back to her room that had been her bedroom before. Thankfully the TARDIS had changed it enough so she didn't have to feel that sickening wave of nostalgia every time she entered. Rose locked the door behind her as she kicked off her heels. In a locked drawer in her desk sat a small journal. She pulled it out and flipped to the last page she had written on, sitting on her bed. Half of the journal was filled with calculations that she had made over the last hundred years. Her IQ had somewhat grown over time and she easily calculated what the substance had done to her body today. She took into account how drained she felt, the calculations she'd made earlier, and what the Doctor had told her about her life force taking apart the Josnian ship. With a grim frown, she circled her final estimation:

_3 Months_

* * *

After the Doctor had added the new information to his board about Rose, he realised with a start that he'd never be able to do this on his own. At least not without a little advice, encouragement, or even a new perspective.

Now, let's get this straight. The Doctor can go back and see any companion who has ever traveled with him, whether as he left them or in their past. The reason he doesn't is that over a thousand years of living it's the only way to protect his hearts. If he lets them go, he's able to move on. Most of the time those companions would come and find him, or he would stumble upon them merely by chance. Hardly _ever_ did he go back to see them of his own volition.

Today would be one of those times.

* * *

The Doctor felt more nervous than he'd been in a long time. Earlier he had parked the TARDIS in a quiet area outside of New York and had taken a train back into the city. He left Rose sleeping inside, and he'd locked the console to avoid a repeat of the last time he left her alone in there.

The year was 1943, but the train was sturdy enough as it shuttled the inhabitants towards the city. It took a little research but he finally found the house he was looking for. It had taken him all night to get here and now the early rays of dawn shined their light all around him. He wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers as he debated running away from this heartache, away from the unknown response his former companion inside would give him. Every cell inside screamed to run as fast as he could away, but every beat of his two hearts fought against that, telling him to stay. She had been so, so special him. The one who he could call his best friend, could confess anything to. Sure, she had her faults, a few big ones in fact, but it didn't change the fact that she was sealed onto his hearts forever.

But in the end he found his body was stronger than his heart and he turned to dash down the steps. As soon as his feet hit the end of the stairs he heard the door behind him creak open. He spun around and saw her standing there in her bathrobe, her hair a tangled mass.

"Doctor?" She said, her voice still groggy from sleep. The Doctor smiled disarmingly.

"Hello Amy."

* * *

They stood there at a standoff, both not sure what to do, what to say. What could you say, after all that had happened? _"I'm sorry"_ wasn't good enough, _"I missed you" _was misplaced, _"How are you?" _was a waste of time.

Suddenly the Doctor felt extremely awkward and foolish for coming to her for advice. How could she help him with Rose anyway, when he had to tell her that he'd let River go to the library and ultimately to her death? He went to turn away but Amy's shout stopped him.

"Oi! Raggedy man!" She ran down the steps after him and threw herself in his arms.

As he held her close and breathed in the scent of her hair, he felt a weight lift off of him, and he felt freer than he'd had since he'd lost her. The moment was lost as a cry resonated out from the house.

"That'll be Anthony." Amy said, letting go of him. "Come on in, I want you to meet our son." The Doctor already knew this. After he had lost the Ponds he went and looked up their history, just to make sure that they had gotten the happy ending they so much deserved. Even though they couldn't have their own children, the Doctor was satisfied that they were truly happy with their adopted son.

Ten minutes later the two of them sat at the Ponds' kitchen table, Amy nursing Anthony with a bottle.

"The mother died suddenly after giving birth to him, he probably would have died if they hadn't found a home so fast." The Doctor didn't reply. He was listening to Anthony's gurgles, translating the baby sounds in his head to sentiments of contentment and acceptance of his new family. He didn't dare say anything of this out loud; it was too reminiscent of another child Amy had once held in her arms, the one whose life became royally messed up and was now ending, in her future, his past. All thanks to him.

"He'll be happy here." was the only thing he said. Amy smiled gratefully at him in reply. "So, where's the plastic man?"

"All-nighter at the hospital. It's for the best anyway, he's not too happy with you."

"Rory? Why?" As soon as he said it he realised he didn't want to know. Amy let out a bitter laugh, and the Doctor feared she might agree with her husband.

"Might be easier to ask what he's not mad at you about." The Doctor thought about it. Rory had had to grow up with Amy prattling on constantly about her imaginary friend, his fiancé had been stolen away the night before their wedding. The Doctor had announced he had kissed her at his bachelor party, gotten Rory killed more than once, they had their baby taken away from them, he nearly obliterated their marriage, and finally they were ripped away from their life in 2012, never being able to see their family again or even start one of their own.

"He's finally happy here. We're safe, we have Anthony, but he lives in constant fear that you'll come back and ruin what little joy we have." The Doctor's hearts fell at that.

"Is...is that how he really sees me?" Amy noticed his fallen countenance.

"Don't take it to heart Doctor, he knows we had just as much good in our lives with you as bad." This didn't really help him much. He put his face in his hands and sighed regretfully.

"I made a bloody mess of your lives, didn't I?" He yelled in shock as Amy slapped him hard. "What was that for?"

"Now you listen here, Rory may be mad at you for what happened, but I wouldn't change one thing I did aboard that ship, okay? Well, except for maybe that fish fingers and custard eating contest we had." The Doctor smiled at the memory. "Although I didn't know it, I was with Melody the whole time she grew up. I've seen her now, she's a strong, independent woman."

"Just like you." Amy grinned, nodding.

"She's happy, and that makes me happy." The Doctor wanted more than anything not to ruin this, but if he wanted any advice on what to do with Rose, he'd have to tell her.

"Amy, I haven't seen River in years."

"I know." She replied, turning away. "I know you. I can see it in your eyes. You always feel guilty regarding River." She thought of something, her eyes widening.

"Years?" She smacked his shoulder and the Doctor moved away so she couldn't do it again. What did he do now? "When I wrote you in Melody's book I told you _not _to be alone!"

"I'm not...I'm not alone! "Amy stopped trying to hit him again so he could explain. He told her all, how he found his past companion Rose in a bar, how different she was, his mission to get the old her back, and everything that had happened since then. Amy sighed.

"You came back to see me, breaking your personal rules, for love advice?"

"I don't...I don't love-"

"Oh shut it. I know you remember? This magical woman who you lost due to reasons outside of your control, you find her again, but you need to fix her. If it was me in her place, would you care?" The Doctor stopped at that.

"Of course."

"No, you'd chalk it up to Scottish hormones. Any of us you'd have an excuse for."

"That's not fair!"

"Love isn't fair. We don't pick and choose, it just happens when we're with the person we love. They make us better people than we had ever been before, and when one of us is damaged, we want nothing more than to fix them, to see them alright again." Wow. The Doctor hadn't heard something that profound since he'd visited Socrates. He sighed in resignation.

"Fine, so maybe I do love her. How do I fix her?"

"Do you really want to fix her? After all, she does seem to enjoy this new persona she's acquired." He immediately shook his head.

"No. No, I refuse to let her live like this. It's not right."

"But don't you think it's slightly selfish, to want back to the woman you used to love?"

"I'm not being selfish!" Amy didn't agree, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to change his mind.

"Alright then, well you be the person who loves her, the one that brings out the best in her, just like she did with you, back when you were the one who was damaged. She was there, just after you lost your people, wasn't she?" He nodded.

"How did you know?"

"With me, you always acted like the Time War was something that happened to someone else, long before my time, and you had moved on. I know there was a time in your life where that wasn't true, where you couldn't accept yourself for what you had done. Rose musta done one hell of a job to get you out of that."

"She did, she-she was the greatest thing ever to happen to me. I was about to decide that life wasn't worth living anymore, when she just strolls into my life and challenges everything I believe in. She changed my life so much, and it kills me every second I see her like this."

"Like you?"

"Like me." When the Doctor stopped talking, he looked up to see Amy sitting there with a big smile on her face. "What?" he asked.

"That's the clearest definition of love if I've ever heard one." The Doctor let out a chuckle, before it died with another thought. He really should learn to keep his mouth shut; it kept ruining the mood.

"You're not upset, being River's mum and all?" Amy lowered her head.

"I used to think that I was your whole world, that me, Rory and River were the only family that ever mattered to you. That was foolish."

"It wasn't foolish." The Doctor interrupted, missing that family in his TARDIS now more than ever.

"It was though. You're over a thousand years old. You've regenerated who knows how many times-"

"Ten times." That was a lie, but this was certainly no time to explain that now.

"-and someday you'll regenerate again and probably forget us." The Doctor immediately leapt out of his chair to embrace her.

"Never. Amelia Pond, you are sealed onto my hearts forever." he heard a sniff. He pulled back and saw her smiling through tears that had gathered in her eyes.

"You're not coming back, are you? After you leave, this is it." The Doctor merely nodded. "I thought so."

"It's too hard." The Doctor finally said. "I look at you and I long for those days that I can never go back to."

"You do that with Rose." The Doctor's eyes immediately hardened.

"I will get _those_ days back, I'm not going to lose her!" Amy raised her hands in defense.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. If only you could have fought for River that hard." The Doctor felt his temper continue to rise, before he realised that this would be the last time he would ever see her again. He didn't want to remember this as a bad moment.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "Before I forget, I brought a bag of...things for you." He pulled a medium-sized canvas bag out of one of his "bigger on the inside" pockets and handed it to her. Amy's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. She looked inside and grinned in joy.

"Y'know, being stuck in New York in the 30's, I thought these things would be appreciated." He remembered taking great care in finding things that were both British and modern. Favorite candies, flashlights, Amy's exact brand of makeup, Rory's exact brand of cologne.

"What's this?" Amy pulled out two small boxes.

"Endless energy packs for the iPads, complete with books, games and other useful apps." That had been his favorite part, although he had spent too much time playing that 'Flappy Bird' game. "Do you still have your cells?" Amy nodded, getting up and handing Anthony to him. The Doctor smiled in delight as he took the child.

"Yeah, they died a while ago, didn't find the heart to throw them out." She opened a drawer and fished hers and Rory's cells out. She brought them over to the table and set them in front of him. He pulled out his sonic and ran the device over them.

"I'm putting a feedback loop in the battery pack so they'll never die. He then did what his Ninth self had termed "jiggery pokery". He demonstrated to Amy. "You type in the exact date you want first, then the phone number." Amy looked at him in shock.

"Y'mean...we can talk to our families, our friends?"

"I'd keep the circle small, hard to explain how you got stuck in 1930's America." Amy nodded, agreeing. Finally she threw her arms around the Doctor and hugged him tight.

"Thank you." She whispered, trying to hold back tears again and failing. Amy's head snapped up as the front door creaked open. "That'll be Rory, you better go" She brought him to the back door which led out of the kitchen. "I'll wait a few weeks before I show him the stuff you brought. Don't worry, I'll explain everything. He doesn't hate you, y'know." The Doctor nodded as he walked outside. A few feet away he stopped and turned back to her. She stood in the doorway watching him, two tears falling down her face.

"Don't cry Pond." He said, his voice on the verge of breaking. With that he fled.

* * *

The Doctor ducked behind a bush in the next yard and watched through the Ponds' kitchen window as Rory came in to greet his wife. Hopefully Amy had hid the bag filled with the stuff he gave them until she deemed it time to talk to Rory about him. He couldn't hear what was being said, but Rory looked happy enough as he kissed his wife and then his son's forehead. The Doctor was satisfied that they'd be well off.

"Live well Ponds." He whispered, before turning away, forever.

* * *

**See, not even Amy can talk sense into him :P I always felt the Ponds' ending was a bit off. Hopefully this resolved things a bit better. Plus I think the Doctor would need to say some sort of 'sorry' for what he did to them. I know it's unfair, but he could have been more careful. Anyway...please review, I loves dem! :D**


	6. Chapter Five - Unwelcome Memories

**Here the Doctor finds out why Rose jumped on board the TARDIS at his first invitation, among other things.  
**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Unwelcome Memories  
**

_ "Won't you be my bad boy, be my man. Be my weekend lover but don't be my friend. You can be my bad boy, but understand that I don't need you again. No I don't need you again..." _

It was another long train ride before he made it back to the TARDIS. He tried to banish the heavy weight on his hearts, but the sight of Amy and Rory kissing, happy in their little home made his chest ache with intense, selfish sadness. He leaned up against the blue box and immediately felt a wave of love coming from his time machine. It helped him immensely. He patted the side lovingly.

"Thanks old girl."

* * *

The Doctor was thankful that Rose slept in late. Some things never did change. By the time he had returned it was nearly midday. Nevertheless, he found his broken companion in the kitchen, nursing a cup of tea, a see-through white covering failing to hide her black laced bra and underwear.

"Hello Rose." He said brightly, hoping she wouldn't notice the light tear tracks under his eyes. She only grunted in reply, not bothering to look at him. The Doctor knew by experience she wouldn't be fully awake for another twenty minutes. In order to pass the time, the Doctor began to prepare breakfast for the two of them. He opened the freezer and immediately shut it. Fish fingers were the last thing he needed to see right now. Instead he decided to make banana pancakes for him, plain maple for Rose, the kind she preferred. Funny how this intense love of bananas was strong enough to last through two regenerations, three forms that is.

By the time the pancakes were done, Rose was ready to talk. The Doctor set a plate in front of her and took his own across the table from her. She nodded her thanks. As they ate, the Doctor tried to image that everything was fine. That this was a day long ago when he was wearing pinstripes and plimsolls, and where Rose was only twenty years old, not 356. He had discovered quickly that his obsession with bananas wasn't shared by his bright, young companion. He almost lost himself in those mornings long ago, before their eyes connected, and the darkness in her snapped the Doctor back to reality. She was now a mirror. He could see himself in her old eyes; eyes that had seen too much, had been through too much; things that had forced her to view life as cruel and escaping by drink, racy clothing and a bitter view of the universe.

And it had all been his fault. How could he ever get back the Rose he once loved and more importantly, the Rose who once loved him? Amy's words ran through his head like a resounding gong.

_"You be the person who loves her, the one that brings out the best in her, just like she did with you, back when you were the one who was damaged." _

He'd do his best, one step at a time. One wrong move and there was a big chance he would lose her forever.

"I figured we'd try the random setting today."

"Is that wise?" Rose replied, taking the last bite of her breakfast. "Last time didn't end so well." The Doctor grinned. She hardly ever mentioned the past, much less back when she had traveled with him.

"Yeah, the lightning volcano wasn't all that fun, was it? No worries, we're not likely to land in any place we've been before." She raise a skeptical eyebrow, but didn't reply, only watched the Doctor as he finished the rest of his food. After a few minutes had passed by, the Doctor looked at her thoughtfully.

"What?" She asked him, brushing a blonde strand of hair out of her eye. He sat there for a minute, making Rose wonder if he was debating whether or not he should say what was currently on his mind. Finally he spoke, waving his fork at her.

"There's one thing I don't understand." Actually it was quite a few things, but he didn't think he'd even be able to get away with this one question. "And that's 'Why?'"

"'Why?' Why what?" Last chance to get out of this.

"Why you're even traveling with me in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I'm overjoyed to have you here again, but in all honesty you don't seem to take much joy in it. Or even think about forgiving me for what happened." He released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. After he finished Rose pursed her lips, and the Doctor feared another blow-up.

"I was bored." She said nonchalantly, surprising the Doctor.

"Bored?" He repeated, slightly miffed.

"Well yeah. I'd been at that bar for a few years, and I've always hated schedules and same every day stuff. Reminded me too much of..."

"Working at Henrik's before you met me?"

"Among other things." Did she mean working at Torchwood after he lost her? Or her days with the Metacrisis? Possibly both. He'd have asked, but he knew that was enough questions for today. He leapt up.

"So, random setting?" Rose nodded. The Doctor held out his hand for her to grab but she walked past him and out of the kitchen. He sighed as his arm flapped down to his side and followed her out. Nevertheless, the Doctor skipped up the stairs with giddiness in his step. Rose was already waiting by the console. The Doctor began hitting buttons and throws levers and every once in a while, spinning around for show.

"Hit that green switch would you Tyler?" She hit it, and when he asked her to hit another button, she realised what he was doing.

"Doctor," She implored.

"Alright, alright, you don't need to help any more. Just one more lever anyway." He threw it and the TARDIS shuddered as it landed.

The Doctor let Rose step out first, as was their custom. When she opened the door he heard the distinctive noise of lots of people ambling about. He stepped out behind her and noticed his ears hadn't failed him. They were in some sort of marketplace, and a busy one at that.

They walked forward a few feet, before the Doctor furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hold on," He said. "I recognize this place. Why do I know this place?" They turned a corner and the Doctor was racking his brain so much he didn't notice Rose had stopped walking. Just as it hit him – why he remembered this place – he saw someone twenty metres away, a face he'd never thought he'd see.

"Hello again." He whispered to his past self. Suddenly there was a crash behind him. The Doctor spun around and saw three clay pots had been knocked off the stand behind the corner he'd just passed.

"Rose?" He asked, not seeing where she went. He heard a whimper behind the clay pot stand. "Rose," He knelt down next to her, wondering if the sight of his past self had done this to her. Never had he seen his strong Bad Wolf like this, much less the Belle de Jour version. She quivered in fright and held her arms around her like a barrier. She closed her eyes and flinched away as he crawled closer to her. He knew asking if she was okay was fruitless; she clearly wasn't.

"Don't let him see me." she gasped, tears falling from her big brown eyes. "Don't make me see him."

"Shh," he whispered, reaching out to pull her up. "You don't have to. Come on, let's get out of here." She clung against him as he guided her out from behind the stand. After they had stepped out the Doctor spun his head to look at his younger self again. He knew he'd be there watching; he remembered it. He blocked his Rose so she wouldn't see him and vice versa. Indeed his previous form stood there, his majestic brown coat waving slowly in the light breeze. The Doctor felt doing those things rather than see him do them, the slight furrowing of those eyebrows in confusion, the understanding of what this really was, the feel of those fingers inside those bigger on the inside pockets...

The current Doctor suddenly remembered who else was supposed to be there, and his eyes began searching desperately, until he saw her standing a few feet away from her Doctor, oblivious to what was going on. The older Doctor let his eyes drink in the presence of the Rose he once knew, who wasn't battle-scarred and kind to every living creature, even a Dalek. The two Doctors locked eyes again after the younger had seen the older staring at his companion with a mixed expression on his face. Both Doctors knew it would be foolhardy to continue this exchange.

The bow-tie clad Doctor led his Rose away while the pinstriped one guided his Rose to a different stand in the distance. The older Doctor could hear her voice only in his memory as the younger Rose spoke to her Doctor.

"Who were you starin' at?"

"Someone from my future," that form wasn't prone to lying and hiding things back then, especially to her.

"Really?" she looked behind him, seeing if she could catch a glimpse. The Doctor grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her back.

"Oh no you don't, seeing an ordinary future is bad enough, mine is a ticking time bomb." She scowled at him but let him lead her away.

The current Doctor remembered all this and more as he led the 356 year-old Rose back to the TARDIS. He remembered seeing a flash of blonde hair in his older self's arms, and daring for a second that it was Rose, before realising it was a foolish thing to hope for, given how quickly he went through companions.

He remembered the lilt of her cockney-laden voice, the feel of the small of her back against his hand as he led her away...

He was jerked back to the present as his blue box came back into sight. He glared at his ship, knowing she had brought them here, knowing this would happen.

With a start, he realised that he was looking at this all wrong. This could be the wedge he needed in breaking out the Rose he once knew by having her past revealed. Once he knew everything that happened to her in those three hundred some years, he could begin to work on fixing her broken pieces.

He snapped a finger and the doors swung open. The Doctor led Rose inside and deposited her in the Captain's seat. He sent the TARDIS into the vortex quickly and turned back to her.

"See, we're gone now, far away from him." She was already doing better, seeing as she wiped the tears from her eyes. But the Doctor knew he only had a short window before she retreated back into the Belle façade. "What did he do to you?" He said quietly, more to himself as he bent down in front of her. It was understood that he wasn't really talking about his past self, but of the clone who wore that same face. She went to speak, but it came out in short hiccups. The Doctor knew of an easier way, but there was only one in a million chance she'd agree to it. Those odds were considerably lower in her current weakened state though. The Doctor slowly brought his hands to her temples.

"May I?" He asked. With relief he saw her nod, and he delved into her memories. Instantly three hundred years of pain, heartache, betrayal and endless suffering flooded his head, overwhelming his senses. He let go suddenly and collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily and warding off the rush of nausea. No one, not even his worst enemies should have had to go through what he saw, but yet the person who mattered most in the universe went through it all in excruciating detail. He looked up and noticed Rose had fainted, the rush of memories and emotion that was held back for so long had been too overwhelming. He checked her vitals and saw she was fine, but she'd be out for a while. Would she be okay when she woke up? She'd most likely be the same as before, but it didn't stop him from hoping. In one fluent move he picked her up bridal style and carried her to the Med Bay for extensive testing, mainly to distract his mind from what he had seen.

The Doctor squinted his eyes as a blue light scanned Rose's unconscious form. He frowned at what came up on the screen.

"Only low levels of huon and artron particles." No doubt they were from when she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, but there was no way she'd have lived past 150 with that amount in her. The only reasonable explanation was that she'd have had more, a lot more, that had enabled her to live past 350 years. But that didn't make any sense. An excessive amount of huon and artron levels would have bonded to her cells, not even showing signs of beginning to fade for a thousand years, or so his research in the old Gallifreyan tomes on creatures affected by the vortex told him. So why was she 356 with hardly any Bad Wolf left?

"Hold on, what's that?" He saw something on the scanner and zoomed in. Given his research that he'd performed after that whole mess with the Josnians, he knew that ordinarily once the huon and artron particles were gone, she'd begin to age at a normal rate, giving her at the most sixty more years before her death.

But someone – or something – had bonded the huon and artron particles to her heart, transferring her very life force to the foreign vortex in her. That could only mean one thing. Once the levels reached zero, her heart would stop. His screwdriver clattered to the floor as he stumbled back in shock.

Rose Tyler was dying.

* * *

**Gasp! Only three chapters left to clear all this up. What do you think will happen? I guarantee you you probably can't guess correctly! (don't worry, it's not_ too_ emotionally damaging ;)) And nope, you don't find out what happened to Rose until the next update ;)  
**

**Yep, making up my own laws of science again. It's a bad habit of mine. If it offends you, I'm sorry.**


	7. Chapter Six - Nowhere to Run

**The reviews I've gotten for this story are the kindest I've ever received from any of my stories! Some of the PMs I got too literally made me speechless, they were so amazing and filled with brilliant words. I hope this story won't disappoint any of you. I love you all so much! *hugs***

* * *

**Chapter Six – Nowhere to Run  
**

"_Remember the feeling, remember the day? My _Stone Heart_ was breaking, my love ran away. This moment I knew I would be someone else, my love turned around and I fell..." _

_Once the huon and artron particles in her reached zero, her heart would stop. The sonic clattered to the floor as the Doctor stumbled back in shock. Rose Tyler was dying._

There was no way around it, no way he could save her. He could try to unbind the particles from her heart, but there was a ninety-percent chance he'd kill her in the process, and he wasn't about to do that. He'd done enough damage to her. He'd never done an actual scan of her after the Game Station had happened, and now he wished he had. If he'd known just how much Bad Wolf was still left he never would have let her go with that Metacrisis bastard. She could have lived a very, very long life with him, not enduring the kind of pain and heartbreak she'd been exposed to in that parallel world.

And, to top it all off, she also had damaged neural pathways in her brain, which explained why she lost it upon seeing what she thought was the Metacrisis. _It probably was also the reason why she never wanted to confide in me._ Well, besides the whole hating him thing.

And now that he knew, he couldn't blame her. He still wanted to make her better, but he couldn't despise what she made herself into, as a defense against the universe and the pain etched deep inside her soul.

But still, she could have let him know _something. _Had she had a previous episode? Was this a relapse today? He didn't know because he had only taken in the relevant memories in her head, what had happened specifically in the alternate universe. Well, if he kept wondering what was happening and what had happened, he'd go mad in the twenty-four hours until she woke up again. The only thing to do now was to wait for her to wake up, and then finish what he started by getting his Rose back so her final days could be happy. What had once been his distraction was now too painful to think about, and what he had been distracting himself from was now the distraction.

So he fled deep into the TARDIS, into the locked room where his whiteboards of Rose had been set up. Circled in the middle of the centre board was a picture of his past self that represented the Metacrisis, with a '?' mark drawn next to it. With a look of pure hatred on his face, he erased the question mark with the side of his hand and tore off the picture, crumpling it up and tossing it away, both out of sight and mind.

"Better start at the beginning." he muttered as he pulled forward the board on the left. In his mind he went over everything relevant he had witnessed inside Rose's head. The memories came back as if Rose was retelling them to him in her own voice...

"_Things were okay at first, after you left us. Pete offered John – that's what he called himself – a job at Torchwood. John was a little distant, but I just figured he was letting me get used to the idea of having him around. He was so truthful and honest when you left us on Bad Wolf Bay. I guess what he was going through was a progressive downfall, as his distantness and non-emotion grew each day. He opted to get a small apartment in town as I was still living at my parents' mansion. I see it now that he was keeping things from me, letting emotions build up inside until they all exploded at once. _

_ The only times I saw his good side, the side that wasn't sullen and ignored me, was when he was with my little brother Tony, who was six by that point. I swear Tony was the only person he ever cared for, except for maybe Donna who he always spoke of with such reverence. He loved showing Tony everything he knew and never got frustrated by how small his human brain was. Even then those moments were few and far between._

_ I remember clearly the day it all came to a head, even though it happened for me over 300 years ago."_

The only sound that could be heard in the room was the squeaking of the dry erase marker as the Doctor scribbled furiously to keep up with the retelling of the memory.

_"It was cold that morning when I woke up. I looked over at my cell and noticed I had a message from Jake, asking me to come in early; it was imperative that he talked with me before I started work. So I got dressed, slipped on my jacket and my boots and drove to Torchwood. Normally Pete would take me but he had pulled an all-nighter the night before. He was behind in his paperwork or something like that._

_ I asked Tara, the clerk at the front, which floor Jake had signed into. I met him on the fifth floor, in a room hardly anyone used, with a distressed look on his face that made me uncomfortable._

_ He said he was helping out in the Med Labs the day before, which surprised me; I didn't know he was interested in that sort of stuff. I guess life on the run put that off the list in his life before Torchwood._

_ "Remember those full routine checkups and scans we performed on all employees last week?" he asked. I nodded, it was a new policy to make sure no one was possessed or had contracted a deadly virus or anything like that._

_ "Well, I caught Olivia" the head nurse "studying your results avidly, more than she should have. So while she was on lunch I swiped them." After he said this he handed me a folder. I flipped it open and frowned. Most of the results were inconclusive, but from what I could tell my cells were regenerating, not in the Time Lord sense, but in the sense that they wouldn't die._

_ "So what's the problem?" I should have suspected something was wrong, but I figured it was merely an anomaly that I could discuss with John that night._

_ "I think Olivia may have sent a copy to the Superiors." The Superiors were a group formed in London who conducted all the nasty business no one wanted to deal with, who also held rank over anyone who worked at Torchwood. They were more of a rumour than anything here, as no one hardly ever saw them, but yet, they ran everything behind the scenes. What happened to witnesses that could risk the exposure of Torchwood, security leakage and 'taking care of' dangerous alien criminals in our cells. _

_ "So?" I replied, clearly not seeing the signs. Sure, some of the Superiors' methods were a bit unethical, but what could they do to me? I was the daughter of Peter Tyler, overseer of Torchwood One., their main base. They couldn't touch me. Oh how wrong I was._

_ Jake ran a hand through his hair, which had grown long as of late._

_ "I don't think you understand the seriousness of the situation." At this I grew a little irritated, thinking he must be overreacting._

_ "Care to enlighten me?" His eyes flashed in anger, before softening again._

_ "Once the Superiors review your case, they'll want to search through your file carefully." At this the agitation began. My file was flimsy at best. Any serious investigating would find that I really wasn't this Pete's daughter, and maybe even that my mother wasn't the same woman he married. _

_ Although John hardly ever showed up for work, he still had a file, and that would most likely be reviewed too, and his file was weaker than mine. _

_ And just like that I saw my world, the life I had made crumbling down around me. I couldn't let anyone touch my parents or the clone you had so graciously given to me to take care of. Jake would probably go under investigation for telling me all this. I collapsed against the closed door behind me as my heart began to race. It didn't really cross my mind that something was wrong with me, just that I didn't want anyone to hurt the ones I loved. _

_ "What do I do?" I asked Jake, trying not to let my voice break. I was completely at a loss. I don't know what I would have done if Jake hadn't been so cool headed. He began to pace, and I could tell his mind was churning. He was in this just as much as I was. Well, maybe not as much, but he was still in danger. Finally he spoke._

_ "You've got to go. You, Pete, Jackie, Tony and John."_

_ "What about you?" I didn't want to leave without him. He was the closest thing I had to a friend now. I was scared for a second that he was volunteering to stay as some sort of heroic sacrifice to protect us. But he eased my anxiety with what he said next._

_ "Yeah. I'll go too. Wanted a new life anyway." With his words I remembered how close he was with Mickey. Him leaving this universe must have been difficult. At that moment I missed Mickey intensely too, more than I'd had in a while. "I've already talked to Pete about what's going on. Just lay low for a while, and pack your bags when you get home. Today, just don't act suspicious." I gave out a short, nervous laugh._

_ "Then I shouldn't be standing here in this room with you any longer huh?" Jake smiled back at me._

_ "Yeah they might think we were doing something other than talking." I knew he was speaking in jest. There wasn't a single person who didn't know how obsessed I was with the Doctor, and not to mention it was common knowledge that Jake 'played for the other team'. _

_ That night at the mansion my stepdad held a meeting for all of us. My mum and John had completely different reactions. Frankly my mum freaked out and Pete had to calm her down. She didn't want to live on the run. Soon she realised my safety was at stake and said she'd do anything to help._

_ Likewise, John didn't say a single word, only sat there fiddling with the edge of his t-shirt. I questioned his clothing choice and the band of soft eyeliner around his eyes, and of course I was upset at his unwillingness to say or do anything, but once again I didn't follow through with any action. I wish I had talked to him, maybe he would have confided in me, or maybe not. Either way I don't think I could have avoided the outcome._

* * *

_ The next day Pete talked to us all individually. He told me he had arranged a plane to take us to a safe house he had procured on the other side of the country. I worried it wasn't far enough, but I trusted his judgment. The plane would take off Thursday morning at 6 a.m., three days from now. I didn't think I could make it three days, but Pete said it was the earliest that they all would be able to get everything together._

_ "Just act normal until then," he begged me._

_ "But what if there is something wrong with me, shouldn't we get this sorted out?" I knew the Superiors couldn't help. A forged file meant immediate incarceration, and alien infiltration meant instant death. Both of these awaited me and John if we were to stay here any longer. I so desperately wished the Doctor was here. He would help me, unlike John who didn't seem to do anything. Tears began to run down my cheeks and Pete embraced me._

_ "He left me, again." I gasped out in between sobs, something I'd held deep inside ever since I heard the TARDIS engines fading away from me. _

_ "I know," he soothed me. "We'll get through this, okay? Don't lose hope." I nodded, sniffing and wiping the moisture off my face. I refused to lose hope. As long as I had my family, everything would be okay._

* * *

_ I saw John a few times after that, but he was always withdrawn. I nearly snapped at him once, begging him to show me some sort of sign that he still cared for me, he had told me he loved me on that beach so long ago after all. But I figured all that could wait until we were safely away. If I could go back to change anything, it would have been that moment. I didn't see him at all on Wednesday, but I figured he was busy packing. Wrong again. _

_ And finally Thursday morning had come. My alarm went off at 4 a.m. I hopped out of bed and finished what little I had left to do. Pete came up at 5:30 to help me bring my bags down. _

_ "The plane is ready," he informed me._

_ "Is everyone there?"_

_ "Everyone but John," We were walking out the front door when he said this. I immediately stopped._

_ "What?! Where is he?" _

_ "Don't know, nobody's gone to look for him." And I knew I couldn't leave the last link I had to the Doctor. He may have been sullen and moody, but he was mine._

_ "I have to go get him," Pete grabbed my arm as I walked away._

_ "Rose, we need to leave _now_."_

_ "No! I'm not leaving without him." Maybe he was running late, or got lost on the way to the airstrip. I knew in my heart there was no way I was going to leave him at the mercy of those who would arrest him, kill him, or worse, torture him. He had two hearts after all._

_ "Don't do this Rose, he doesn't deserve you." I see now that Pete knew what he was saying, but at the time I ignored him as I walked to the truck. As I reached the door I turned to him._

_ "Me and John will meet you there at the plane. Twenty minutes." With that I left._

* * *

_ "John?" I called out as I hopped out of the truck and walked across the yard. "John, we've got to go." I stopped, listening for any sort of sign that he had heard me. I had no doubt that he was in there. _

_ But when I opened the unlocked door I realised I had been wrong. Instantly my world fell apart as I took in the surroundings. His flat that had once been filled with furniture and his belongings (what few he had) was now completely empty. John wasn't here. John had left. _

_ I felt my legs give out under me and I crashed to the floor. I pulled my knees to my chest and began to cry. I had lost my Doctor again, for the final time. How many times had the Doctor left me? Sent me home? Abandoned me? Too many times to count. John was only following who he was born as. _

_ I knew there was more to it than that but at that moment I didn't care. I didn't care about anything. I thought about walking back to the plane, but I couldn't stand to see the knowing frowns of my stepfather and Jake as they saw the tear tracks on my face, hearing my mother rant about what a git John was, and the constant pestering of my brother wondering where his favorite adult was. Tony loved John more than he loved me. How ironic, since John didn't love anybody. _

_ In the end it was the image of my mother wondering where I was and screaming at Pete not to take off that got me up off that floor and out the door._

_ But by then it was too late._

_ Five black cars had surrounded me and soldiers began pouring out. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Pete as quickly as I could, knowing this was my last chance to say goodbye._

_ "Go," I said to him. "It's too late for me." I heard him protest. "Please," I begged. "John is gone. I couldn't bear it knowing you guys weren't safe. You're the only ones I care for. Remember me well, I love you all." I hung up and smashed my phone on the ground so no one could trace it back to my family. Tears were now falling uncontrollably from my eyes and blurred my vision as I ground the remains of the battery to my cell into the dust. That hope that I had once clung to was gone forever._

_ The only thing I took comfort in was that Mum, Pete, Tony and Jake were safely away. I didn't know what happened to John, but deep inside I knew this was all his fault and I didn't care what had happened or where he had gone. _

_ A man got out of the car in front of me and I instinctively knew that if Yvonne Hartman had written a book about her life and her methods, this guy would have stepped right out of it. I had never seen him before but I knew from past experience that he cared only for himself and the one goal he was striving for, no matter who he intentionally hurt in the process to get it._

_ "Rose Tyler." he said, his voice low and rich. He might even have been kind of handsome had he not been staring at me hungrily like his new prize to put on a shelf and gather dust (after torturing to death). He even looked like her: blonde hair and ice-cold eyes. "It's a pleasure." This was no pleasure. I refused to answer him, no matter how much he would goad me. "Hmm," he said pensively, as if I was some specimen for him to study. "Well Miss Tyler, today is our lucky day."_

_ This wasn't lucky at all._

* * *

**Yes I know there's some pretty typical things for a story with Rose in it that are used all the time, either with torture scenes, or Rose becomes a Time Lady, or the Bad Wolf makes her immortal. But I'm satisfied that the ending for this is one that isn't typical. Please review :)  
**


	8. Chapter Seven - Horrors Unthinkable

**Warning for mentioned physical torture scenes, but nothing is explained in detail. However the mental torture is explored deeply. If it bothers you you might have to skip a few paragraphs.**

**Catch the reference to another David Tennant movie for cookies! ;D**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Horrors Unthinkable**

"_You once made this promise to stay by my side. But after some time you just pushed me aside. You never thought that a girl could be strong. Now I'll show you how to go on..." _

_ Up until this point I hadn't moved or made any sort of move to run away, but the minute two of Blondie's men put their filthy hands on my arms I became like a wild animal, thrashing about and doing anything to get them to let go of me. But they were stronger than I was and their grip stayed firm. My arms were going to be black and blue before this bloody day was over._

_ "She's got bite, she does. Let's see if her howl is any better. After all, they do call her the Bad Wolf." I continued to struggle as they pulled me inside one of the vehicles." _

At this point the Doctor had to step back and take a few calming breaths to relax his racing hearts. Images of horrors too numerous to count flashed through his head like gunshots, each one hitting deeper and deeper inside his hearts. Torture, pain, tears, it was nearly too much. It took him a few minutes but he was able to recollect his thoughts into some semblance of order.

_ "I don't know what they were trying to accomplish, but I had one heart, I registered on all their scans as human. Except there was that little issue of the million or so huon and artron particles running through my veins. Very quickly they found out that my body would heal myself of any injury. I say any because they must've tried any and all ways to take me to the edge. Stabbing, starvation, dehydration, electrocution, burning, hypothermia...I think they might've even killed me once, but I can't remember. That must've been when they bonded my heart to those vortex particles, stamping an expiration date on my life without knowing it._

_ But strangely enough, that wasn't the worst of it. I still can't find any rationality for why they did this, but they tortured me mentally as well, tampering with my thoughts and memories, inducing nightmares and all that. My mental torture started the first day I was brought in, and it was done with the cold, hard truth. I had been strapped to a table in a dark room alone for somewhere around three hours. In those three hours I questioned everything I ever believed in: the morals of humanity, how my stepfather could even be remotely connected to people who would chain creatures they didn't understand up like dangerous animals. I definitely questioned John's proclamation of love for me, and I doubted whether the Doctor ever cared for me if he continued and continued and **continued** to send me away, to never stop tossing me out of the TARDIS like last week's rubbish. _

_ Suddenly the lights in the room snapped on and I winced, my eyes having adjusted to the pitch black. I scowled, seeing it was Blondie, whose name turned out to be Ian Dartman. His name even sounded like hers. _

_ "Rose Marion Tyler," he began, and I got that feeling again that he might've been handsome in another life. "daughter of Peter Tyler, though, are you really? It was widely known that the Tylers had no kids, and then suddenly they have a 20-year old daughter who had previously been at boarding school in Germany? Surprised no one questioned this until now. Can you even speak German?" He held up a hand to stop me, even though I had planned not to say a word to this piece of filth. "But wait, your story gets better. You disappear for a year and then turn back up with a man with a just as flimsy excuse as yours." My heart rate increased. Was that why John wasn't at his apartment? Had he been captured like I had? "No worry Miss Tyler," Ian continued. "We realised that you're the real prize. Your beloved Doctor ran away from you, to Las Vegas to become a showman." I wanted to doubt him with all my being, but I couldn't. No matter what he had done, the truth was John had run away from love, from me. I was truly alone. _

_ "I heard he constantly bangs his new brunette employee. She's way prettier than you." I closed my eyes to tears as I tried to ignore the rest of what he was saying. I failed._

* * *

_I tried to pour out my feelings, everything I ever felt for John and the Doctor, but obviously I failed with that too, because the mental torture continued. They implanted memories of John and the brunette Ian mentioned earlier, having sex while I was standing there watching. She was indeed prettier than me, in a 'smoking hot' kind of way. I guess it got planted deep inside my head that if I was like that too, with thick eyeliner and next to nothing in the clothing department, I could win John's heart back. Even though that was the very last thing I wanted.  
_

_They added memories of John grabbing me by my arm and throwing me into the car that had brought me here._

_ "I never loved you," he spat and watched with disdain as the doors slammed shut and the car drove away. I knew it wasn't really him, that he must have had a good reason to run away from me, but with each memory, each one worse than the last, it was getting harder and harder to believe it._

* * *

_ Within a few weeks I couldn't even see his face without screaming. And then they went in further. They attacked my belief in the Doctor. One memory stands out in particular, maybe because it felt more real than anything else they put in my head. _

_ I was standing in a hallway in a large, empty hotel. Rows and rows of doors were on either side of me. I walked forward and felt instinctively drawn to a door with the number 9 on it. My fingers reached out for the door and I hesitated, before throwing the door open. I did not expect to see what I saw as I stepped inside the room. It was me, kissing the Doctor, the new, new Doctor with the great hair. The other me was pretty into it, attacking him with her lips exactly how I would have done. _

_ But after a minute or so the Doctor released her. Her...my...her eyes filled with hurt as he pulled her hands off of him, which fell limp at her sides. Suddenly I noticed the TARDIS a few feet away. Why hadn't I noticed it before? I looked back at the Doctor, who looked like he was about to say something. But it was the image of me that spoke first._

_ "I love you!" She said, tears running down her face._

_ "Quite right too." and suddenly I knew where this was going. I turned back to the door to run away but it slammed shut. I threw myself against it but it was locked. I banged and screamed but to no avail. Finally I turned my back to the door and slid to the floor. The Doctor stood there, staring at the fake version of me with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he spoke again. "Rose Tyler, I..." he paused. Then he turned to me, the one sitting on the floor, and smiled. That bastard smiled! Then he winked at me and without another word, walked into the TARDIS and shut the door behind him. The click of the lock resonated inside the room. The fake Rose ran up to the door and began pounding on the door and crying, but by then I had been sobbing, confronted by my worst fear and my belief in the one I loved most crashing down around me. The TARDIS and the other me disappeared and I was left alone, _like always._ I continued to cry, placing my hands over my face and releasing everything pent up inside my heart. My body shook with convulsing sobs. _

_ Then the lock above me clicked open. As I scrambled to stand up, I felt a peace in my heart that I had never experienced before._

_ "Praise him," I whispered. The door slammed open, and my world turned black._

* * *

_ I woke up strapped to that table. My belief in the Doctor died that day, I guess that was what they were trying to do. Break my belief, break my soul, see another side of me unknown. Stuff like this continued on, for who knows how long. I never kept track of the days as I knew this was my life now, my penance for my undying belief in my precious Doctor and his effing clone. Either the Bad Wolf in me would keep me alive in this hell forever, or eventually the Superiors would find a way to kill me permanently. I prayed desperately for the latter. I truly believed this would be all I knew for the rest of my life now. After all, even if I did manage to escape, where would I go? There was no way to get a hold of Pete and even if I could get back to them, I was way beyond hope of living any sort of normal life ever again._

_ No, better for them to forget me or even better, think I was dead._

* * *

_ One morning, what felt like years since I was brought here, as I awaited my daily torture, a figure came in, his face hidden with his hood. I didn't think much of this. Strangers new to me came in all the time; some new specialist or something of the sort. But this man seemed to watch me intently, and then he came up to my face, pulling off his hood._

_ "Pete?" I gasped weakly, all I had used my voice for recently was screaming._

_ "Shh," he put a finger on my chapped lips, and suddenly I realised just how much I craved affection or even a friendly touch, that was how long I had been in here. "Don't cry my little girl." he used a tissue to wipe the moisture out from under my eyes. I wondered if my biological father would have ever called me that if he had been able to live past my infant years. I suspected so, and it made this version of my father more like him than ever._

_ We hadn't always gotten along great, but over time we had learned to appreciate each others' company and even care for each other. My mother was the bond that initially held us together, but now I realised we had created our own bond, the one of father and daughter. I would gladly die for him, and I knew he wouldn't hesitate to do the same for me._

_ He released the straps holding me down and as I tried to get off, I collapsed into his arms, not having stood on my feet since the day I got here. Pete helped me up, anger and sorrow etched on his face._

_ "You're not safe here," he said. _

_ "Where'd you get that bright idea?" I replied, my face cracking in a smile. It had been so long. He sighed. _

_ "I meant in this universe. They'll always be after you, and if not them, someone else." As he said this I realised we weren't moving. I looked down at his hands and saw a familiar yellow button, exactly like the one the Doctor had thrown around my neck, only once in the countless times he had sent me away. I jerked away in blind reaction. Pete noticed this and frowned. At any other time he might have had pity or even anger for whatever had happened to me, but now was not the time. He shoved the dimension hopper in my hands. I held it, my arms feeling weak and useless._

_ "What about mum, Tony? I'm never going to see them again, am I?" He shook his head and I felt my eyes tear up again. "Thank you." I whispered. Finally I threw my arms around him and muttered in his ear. "Dad." I pulled back and saw he was smiling, his eyes filling up as well._

_ "I never got to raise you," he said, "nor did I expect I would ever have kids, much less a fully grown daughter, but I'm glad I do now. I'm so proud to call you mine. Now, you get going." We both smiled, and just as my hand rose up to hit the button, the doors behind us slammed open._

_ "Pete, come with me!" I cried. I knew it was the only way to get him out of here. If he didn't...no, I had to save him, just like he saved me from falling into the void! But he shook his head, and my eyes widened in horror. I cried out as armed men came and began to drag him away._

_ "Rose!" he shouted. "Go, now!" And suddenly I knew if I didn't, Pete's sacrifice would be in vain. My hand slammed on my button resting on my chest._

_ That was the last time I ever saw that universe or anyone I loved again."_

* * *

The Doctor wondered how Pete knew that the dimension hopper would work again. Maybe his Torchwood had studied the cracks in time and knew the walls were weakening, just enough for Rose to slip through. The rest of her memories weren't as important. The first fifty or so years she'd tried so hard to keep herself and the things she believed in, but eventually she found it easier to sell her body as opposed to trying to find work without any A Levels or extensive knowledge on anything rather than alien studies.

After another hundred years she found she began to enjoy it, embracing Belle de Jour wholeheartedly and discarding Rose Tyler for good. The universe had done this to her and this was the only way to keep herself getting hurt again. The Doctor didn't blame her, not one bit.

Instead, he blamed himself, intensely. He should have known the Metacrisis would be unstable, prone to mood swings and rash decisions. He should have sensed something wrong with Rose, and now those bloody Superiors had most likely done something to her DNA which caused the huon and artron particles to fade out of her system, killing her slowly in the process.

She had found out she was dying by performing her own tests about a hundred years after Pete helped her escape. She had probably learned how to do those tests working for Torchwood. She had accepted that her time was soon up, and the more she used her powers, the quicker death would come. It was five years ago when she began work at the Wicked Wolf, the club where the Doctor had found her.

Suddenly getting back the Rose Tyler he used to know seemed so unimportant. If he could find a way to keep her alive, he would back off, let her be whoever she wanted to be. At least she would be alive. Shame it took him this long to see. He remembered Amy calling him selfish, and now he realised she was right. He had been selfish, oh so selfish.

Just as he thought this, the door behind him slammed open. Hadn't he locked that? He spun around and his hearts began racing in fear.

Rose stood there in the doorway, looking mad as hell.

* * *

He saw her look at the boards behind him and fumed. _"I'll get to that soon," _her eyes seemed to say. The Doctor could tell Rose was pissed, angrier than he had ever seen her before in his entire life. She walked inside a few steps and slammed the door so hard the noise reverberated up the wall.

"You manipulated me!" She shouted, coming up to the Doctor, "You took me there on purpose, remembering you had been there before and what would happen when I saw..._him._" She spat the last word out. The Doctor stepped back, letting her finish her tirade before he spoke. "You took advantage of me in my pathetic state, you barged inside my head and looked at all the things I kept hidden for a damn reason!" She turned her attention to the three boards depicting her life story. "It's always been about her, hasn't it? You've never once considered that maybe _this_ is who I want to be. You talk all the time about how people are special the way they are but what you really mean is that you have to be a certain way, with certain morals to be special, all according to one lonely man's standards, yours! It's all a load of bulls-t!" With that she shoved the board closer to her over. It smacked the floor with a **BANG** and the markers he had been using scattered around their feet.

She then walked over to it, took a foot and smeared the words with one stroke. She then proceeded to do the same to the other two boards. The Doctor just watched her in silence. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want her to go pick up the crumpled piece of paper of the Metacrisis sitting a few metres away, most likely causing another 'episode'. But she ignored it and instead turned her attention back to the Time Lord, her expression and her voice back to normal.

"I said I'd travel with you until I was ready to go. Take me back to my apartment." But the Doctor hadn't heard any of what she was saying. He was filled with intense feelings that overwhelmed his ability to think. It was this moment of not thinking that enabled him to walk up to Rose and kiss her soundly.

Rose was about to pull back and slap him, but then she realised she had been given the chance to do the exact same thing to him that he had done with her. Using her "skills", she could break him down until he was completely vulnerable, then she could do whatever she wanted to him She let out a short chortle that didn't hold the best intentions as she kissed him back.

He dug at her hungrily, kissing her with all the passion he'd held inside for so long. This was not the same for Rose. She had released all those feelings for her Doctor hundreds of years ago, strapped to that cold, metal table that forever changed who she was. She could _never_ _ever_ go back to the young, naïve girl she once was who had blindly given her heart to a stranger who had then left her in the cold.

Instead she kissed him with all the experience of someone who had practiced and found every trick in the book to make men fall at her feet, every button to press to give her exactly what she wanted.

But what she hadn't counted on was her kiss giving the Doctor the clarity he had needed to do what he needed to do. His lips released hers and he smiled. He ran a finger through her blonde hair, watching as it caressed her locks.

"I love you for who you are," He began, completely shocking Rose. "not for who the universe made you into, but for who you choose to be. I'm sorry it took me so long to realise that." And he meant every word. Seeing her past and understanding what she had gone through had given him the missing piece he needed to be 100% sure that this Belle was his Rose. Not that he ever doubted it, but now he had seen the transition between the two women who were one and the same.

They say that love isn't just a feeling, it's a conscious action. Love is sacrifice, an unconditional devotion through the good times and the bad. It was a choice that wasn't forced, whether it be by reverse time lines or obligation. And once the choice was made, it was nigh impossible to go back. And although Rose had, he would not go so easily. He'd never had a reason to, after all, she had always been perfect in his eyes, up until the day he let her go.

_"Love isn't fair. We don't pick and choose, it just happens when we're with the person we love. They make us better people than we had ever been before, and when one of us is damaged, we want nothing more than to fix them, to see them alright again."_

Rose's eyes were currently wide open, and she backed away from him like she had never been more afraid.

"No," she muttered. "No, I can't, I can't do this!" Suddenly she tripped backwards but caught herself at the last minute.

"Rose!" The Doctor rushed forward as her knees buckled and she fell to the floor.

"I...I knew it was soon, b-but I didn't know today would be my last." She muttered weakly. "Huh, I thought three months. G-guess I got so angry with you I used up everything I had left." The Doctor sat on the floor and cradled her head in his lap. His eyes searched her face, worry and distress etched in his features. "Oh stop worrying over me," she gasped, letting out a short cough. "You always did do that too much."

"Oh Rose," He felt his eyes tearing up. "Why didn't you tell me you were dying?"

"Belle like to hide things from the ones she loved."

"Loved?" the side of his mouth curved up slightly as a single tear made its way down his face.

"You stupid fool." She said with a smile. Her next bout of coughing brought blood to the side of her lip. The Doctor wiped it off with a cloth. "I'm sorry I caused you so much heartache." The Doctor ran a hand through her hair.

"Don't be, ever. You were kind of going through your own thing." He knew her time was nearly up, and there was not a thing he could do to change it.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" she shook her head and shuddered. Her hand reached up and touched the lapel of his brown jacket.

"I...I'm sorry." she whispered. Suddenly, and yet at the same time slowly, her head lolled back and her hand fell into the Doctor's lap.

Shaking, the Doctor reached up and closed her eyes with his fingers. Then he grabbed her body tight and gave a shout of utter heartbreak. The only sounds that could be heard were the quiet, sombre engines of the TARDIS and the Doctor as he wept for his beloved.

* * *

**Some of you probably predicted this, but this story's not over yet! One more chapter. And I'm sorry, that's all you'll find out about what happened to the Metacrisis. I apologise if you feel that I left it unfinished, but that was my plan from the beginning. I've written stories where he's loving, some where he loves someone else, and even one where he was evil (poor John, I'm not very nice with him). But in this story, there's just some things we'll never know. However I am thinking about writing a 'deleted scene' of sorts where the Doctor and Rose discussed what John did. Maybe I'll write it up when this is all posted and done.**

**Sorry for the censor, I just don't like writing out heavy duty swear words. Next chapter is the last! Please review! :)  
**


	9. Epilogue - Endings and Beginnings

**As is the custom with my stories usually, the original song is no longer applicable to the final chapter. "Bad Boy" has been discarded and a new one has been found more suitable.**

* * *

**Epilogue: Endings and Beginnings/After All  
**

"_Way back when we started  
There was a part of you that knew  
I was all that you wanted  
But only shadows fill the room.  
I was lost all right  
Lost in the sleepless empty nights  
Dreamin' of you.  
And in those dreams you were mine." _

The Doctor stood in the doorway of the Med Bay, staring at Rose's body lying on one of the examination tables. Try as hard as he might, he couldn't imagine that she was merely sleeping, as some say they picture their loved ones after they had gone.

He'd taken great care to arrange her hair and clothes to the best they could be. After she had...died, her dark blonde hair had faded back to her original bleached blonde look, and her face had de-aged until she actually looked 19 again. He couldn't explain it, just figured it was the final side effect of the artron and huon particles in her body that were now gone.

He had been standing there for three hours, any sense of happiness or responsibility completely wiped from his core. How could he ever find joy in life again, when he had a hand in destroying the one thing in the universe he loved most of all? If only he hadn't been so obsessed in getting her innocent self back, which he knew now would have been impossible, no matter how many years he tried. She still had been Rose, even if at times she hadn't acted like it. He'd only done it out of selfishness, not for her own benefit.

If he hadn't been so obsessed, he might have noticed she was dying and maybe she would have had an extra year or two. Or at the least three months if she hadn't gotten so pissed at him invading her privacy.

And finally, if he hadn't left her in that other universe, she would still be alive. Would she still be by his side? He didn't know, but she would still be alive, and that would be enough. She wouldn't be lying dead on that examination table just a few feet from him. And it was all, entirely, 100% on him. With that thought he slid to the floor and put his head in his hands. Even though he expected them to, no more tears would come. Everything, both good and bad had been drained from him, leaving him empty.

"I wish you would stop blaming yourself already." a female voice spoke behind him, laying a soft hand on his shoulder. The Doctor jumped up immediately and scrambled away. His eyes grew wide. This thing in front of him was not Rose, but it wore her face, or so he thought.

"Who are you?" he snapped, suddenly angry. This woman had a glow around her like a full body halo, her hair was a light blonde, long, wavy and fell just past her shoulder blades.

"I'm her." she pointed to the still form of Rose.

"No you're not. You're just an after-echo." No matter who or what she was, it was too painful a reminder of what could have been. The woman nodded.

"Yes, I am just an after-echo. The final presence of the artron and huon particles that were in her." She walked up to Rose, bu the Doctor stepped in front of her.

"Stay away from her." He suspected the Presence would take Rose's body with her and away from him. He was not going to lose her, not again. With a shake of her head, the Presence raised a hand and slowly the Doctor was lifted up off his feet. He sailed backwards until he lightly bumped against the back wall. He stood there motionless and unable to do anything as the Presence walked up to Rose. She reached a hand out but before she touched her, she looked at the Doctor.

"I'm sorry, but nothing will ever be the same again." She touched Rose's forehead and white light streamed out of her hand and into Rose's head. As the light continued to go into Rose, the Presence began to fade away until she was completely gone. The Doctor's feet returned to the floor and he rushed up to Rose, fearing she would disappear as the Presence had.

Instead, her body began to shimmer, and a stream of the same white light came out of her mouth. If it was possible, her body began to look even younger and more innocent, exactly as she had when he found her in the basement of Henrik's. Her thick makeup and eyeliner faded away and her leather miniskirt grew to a pair of jeans that were just a little too big, the skimpy blouse morphing into a pink t-shirt.

The Doctor watched in fascination as her eyes fluttered open, looking innocent as he had ever seen them.

"Rose?" Her eyes flicked to him, and he was startled to see fear on her face. She opened her mouth and began to scream.

"Doctor!" She shouted. The Doctor grabbed her hands, but she pulled away and hopped off the other side of the table. "Doctor!" She shouted again.

"Rose, it's me!" The Doctor implored. What had the Presence done to her, why couldn't she remember this face?

"No, you're not the Doctor, you don't even look like him." The Doctor gasped. She didn't know of regeneration? That could only mean one thing. Her body and her mind had been reverted back to before she absorbed the Bad Wolf, before she had seen him regenerate into the Doctor with the great hair.

The significance of that impacted him so hard he stumbled back and had to grip the counter behind to keep from falling. Rose continued to shout his name, and the Doctor knew he had a daunting task ahead of him. That's what the Presence meant when she said nothing would be the same again.

He walked up to her, she tried to back away but he wouldn't let her.

"Rose, it really is me, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but when I'm dying, I change every cell in my body; everything changes: body, face, likes and dislikes."

"I don't believe you." she replied, but at least she wasn't running away.

"What's the last thing you remember?" He watched as her young eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Me, Mickey and my Mum were trying to get the TARDIS console open, just like what happened with Margaret the Slitheen. It...it worked, I saw the console pop open...and that's it." The Doctor nodded. He thought so. With that in mind, the Doctor made a daring move and placed his fingers on her forehead. He mentally showed her everything that happened the moment she woke up on the floor of the TARDIS after the Game Station. Rose's eyes flew open as she saw a man in a pinstripe suit, Cassandra, werewolves, Cybermen, a black hole, talking televisions, Davros and a clone of the "new new" Doctor, as he had once put it.

The Doctor hesitated at this point, unsure of what to show her. So he just stopped with the three of them on Bad Wolf Bay. Her eyes were still wide as he released her.

"All that really happened." It was a statement, not a question. The Doctor nodded. "But...how did we get here, how did you, what was it called? Regenerate, again?" The Doctor had a lie ready on the tip of his tongue as he was prone to do in this body, but he realised just in time that this was a new start, for both of them. He couldn't, wouldn't mess this up again.

So he hung his head and told her everything he had been too afraid to show her. It was for the best really, what he did let her see was overwhelming enough without seeing a few hundred more years, torture scenes and losing her family on top of it. She closed her eyes in pain as he told her how her 'father' most likely sacrificed himself to get her safely away. After he was finished she took a few minutes to process.

"And I was really dead?" He nodded. She came up and hugged him. The Doctor was surprised before seizing the opportunity and embracing her back.

"I'm sorry," he said to her, remembering those had been her last words before she died in his arms that morning.

"I-I don't know what to do. I don't even know you," she mentioned with a sniffle. The Doctor pulled back and looked at her earnestly.

"Would you like to start now?" She nodded eagerly through her tears, and the Doctor's hearts unclenched in relief. On instinct, they both reached out and grabbed the other's hand. They fit perfectly, just like always. The Doctor squeezed her hand reassuringly and they walked out of the Med Bay together.

This was his chance to do everything right by her. He made a promise, both to her and himself, that he would never lie to her, never intentionally hurt her, and never, ever leave her behind, even if it was for her own safety.

And as for the issue of getting her to fall in love with him again, the Doctor had no doubt in his mind that that wouldn't be a problem. After all, he had done it twice before.

They may not have his definition of forever, but she had hers, and if he found that her time was up, he would try his hardest, harder than he ever had before to change that, even tearing universes apart for her.

Who knows, fate had brought them back together more than once, maybe this time she was here, by his side, to stay.

"Oh, by the way," the Doctor mentioned as they walked. "keep an eye out for a woman who goes by the name of Clara Oswin Oswald, that's a mystery that still needs solving." Because the mystery of why he loved his Bad Wolf had already been solved, and together they could do anything.

"_After all I'm excited that you're in my life again.  
After all I'm delighted  
To be back where we began.  
I believe that you can fall in love with me again.  
'Cause I love you. I'll catch you when you fall  
We're united  
And we've made it after all  
And we'll both be standing tall  
After all." _

_~Michael Buble with Bryan Adams_

**_*The End*_**

**And there you have it! I'm so sorry if you weren't expecting that, I had that ending planned for forever! And it was made very clear that the damaged Rose could never love the Doctor like she could before, and now they have a second chance. Please, tell me what you think! (Hint, I love long reviews! ;D) Oh btw I did write up that 'deleted scene' that takes place after this, I'll upload it on this story in a few days hopefully, I'm still not happy with how it flows, but that's what happens when I write something really quick. :P**


	10. Deleted Scene and Sneak Peak of Sequel!

**Overall most of you were pretty happy with the ending, and that makes me happy because I was a bit nervous, it being so different and all. This 'deleted scene' taking place after the last chapter might close things off a little more.**

**The two questions I got the most were "what happened to John?" and "is there going to be a sequel?" and the last one scared me. At first I was like "NO! No sequel!" I'm working on another fic that's going good (The Black Rose, if you want to read the summary on my profile), and my next one I'm going to publish I love dearly (The Companion Project) and it has a sequel (Starlight in Our Souls), all done as well. But then it came to me in a flash, I could answer both questions at once! So there will be a sequel, here's the thing though, it's going to be a crossover with the movie Fright Night. If you haven't seen it, you really should, although I should warn you there's a whole lot of strong language and violence, it is a horror movie after all. But David Tennant is HAWT. And even if you choose not to watch it it shouldn't be a problem, I'm still working out the details of the sequel so I'm not exactly sure. Also, don't expect it for a long while. I never ever publish without first finishing the entire document on my computer in case I ever lose interest. So I'd say a few months at the least, hope you guys don't mind waiting that long. However I did write up a little 'sneak peak' for you guys that I posted at the bottom (I even took the time to make a cover image, which you guys won't be able to see now, but of course, it is the most important part ;D). Enjoy!**

* * *

**Deleted Scene - Takes place sometime after Epilogue of "Stone Heart"  
**

"Doctor?" The time lord looked up at a soft knock on the door.

"Come in Rose. You don't need permission to enter the library." He had been there reading a temporal physics book for the past twenty minutes. Normally it wouldn't take him this long, but his mind kept wandering. And the reason for it stood in front of him now.

"I know. It's just...everything's so different now." The Doctor had given her space, time to adjust. After being reverted back into a Rose who didn't know his tenth form, her recovery of accepting everything that had happened was a long ordeal. But the Doctor couldn't take her home, there was nobody there for her now. That had probably been the hardest thing, especially since for her she had just seen her mother nearly a week ago. And now all that was gone, hundreds of years gone. He thought she was taking it rather well actually. She stood there for a second, staring at him and biting her lip like she wanted to say something.

"What do you need?" He finally broke the silence.

"I...I was wondering if you could show me another adventure we went on." The Doctor nodded and invited her to sit on the couch beside him. Every once in a while the Doctor had let her see a specific journey they had went on, in full detail, conversations, everything. Last time had been the werewolf and Queen Victoria. Rose had gotten a kick out of seeing herself win their bet, before asking if he ever gave her that five quid. He refused to answer.

This time it was when he took her to Yisant Prime. He put his fingers to her temple and the two of them reminisced about it as it played. Well the Doctor reminisced, Rose sat there and watched in wonder for the first time.

_"Welcome to Yisant Prime!" The Doctor stepped out ahead of Rose, his overly large coat billowing in the slight breeze. She was currently wearing a blue tank top and a skort. The Doctor had told her it would be tropical paradise warm, so she was prepared. The place was indeed beautiful, and very warm. The Doctor had earlier told her about the hot springs and she couldn't wait to jump into one. She even had her new two-piece bathing suit on that she hoped would make the Doctor's eyes water. _

_ "Oh Doctor, I love it."_

_ "I knew you would." The two of them grinned at each other, before they started walking in a random direction, hand in hand of course._

_ "Strange." The Doctor said as they entered into what looked like a little village._

_ "What's that?"_

_ "This should be the first day of summer, aka the first day of the summer festival. But why is no one here?"_

_ "Maybe they're still preparing." The Doctor let go of her hand and spun around._

_ "No, I don't think so." Suddenly in an instant, the warm weather was gone and in its place was a blinding snowstorm._

_ "Doctor!" Rose shouted, all the warmth in her suddenly gone. She could barely see a wisp of a tan coat in the blinding whiteness._

_ "Rose!" She heard him shout back. She dared to take a few steps forward and found herself in the time lord's arms. She shivered and the Doctor immediately took off his enormous trench coat and wrapped it around her._

_ "S-so cold." She muttered, thinking that she'd never make it back to the TARDIS._

_ "Hold on, I've got you." He led her forward in what he hoped was the right direction. It took them a few minutes but thankfully they found themselves back in front of the blue time machine. Without wasting any time, they went inside and the Doctor ran up to the console while Rose shut the door._

_ "What the hell was that?" She said, wrapping the coat tighter around herself. Oh, it smelled so good, she'd never take this off if she could._

_ "Oops. Ha ha, that was actually the last day of their summer, that was why no one was there. Their winters appear suddenly and are harsh and dangerous."_

_ "Where'd you get that idea?" She couldn't stop her teeth from chattering. The Doctor noticed and immediately put them into the vortex._

_ "Come on, let's get you warmed up." The Doctor took her to her room and she changed out of her bathing suit and into warm and fuzzy pyjamas. He then took her to the den and in front of a cosy fireplace. Rose shivered in delight as she sipped a mug of hot cocoa the Doctor had made for her while she was getting undressed. The Doctor's coat sat beside her, making her feel warmer than anything else ever could. Except maybe the Doctor himself..._

_ "Here, I brought a book for us to read."_

_ "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?" She smiled happily. "I thought you wouldn't let me read what wasn't published in my time." She had begged and pleaded but at the time he hadn't listened, saying it was breaking the rules of time, whatever the hell that meant._

_ "Well, just a few chapters won't do any harm." Rose knew she could swipe the book at a later time to finish it. And if he caught her he wouldn't get too mad, she knew from experience. She thought he rather did like her insolence at his so-called 'authority', that it amused him rather than angered him. _

_ Rose snuggled into his side as the Doctor opened the book and began reading. _

_ "The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart..."_

_ She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling sleep overtake her. She lasted for three pages before she gave in. _

_ When the Doctor looked down at her, he saw his blonde companion was out like a light. With a smile he quietly closed the book and kissed her on the forehead, the smell of her hair filling him with a sense of completeness. Pulling the blankets up farther over them, the Doctor snuggled into the large pillows and soon fell asleep as well._

_ They both jerked awake a few hours later as Rose's cell went off, Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping" resounding around the room. It was a mad scramble to find it until Rose spied it under one of the cushions._

_ "Yeah?" She muttered groggily as she answered, not bothering to look at the caller ID._

_ "Rose? It's Mickey. There's something strange going on here and I think you two should check it out."_

_ "Alright. We'll be there soon." She tried to keep the edge of annoyance out of her voice. Was it necessary to need them there now?_

_ "Rickey boy eh? Let's go see what Mick-Mickety wants." He grabbed her hand and hauled her off the couch. She giggled as the two of them ran down the hallway and towards the console room. Life on the run was exactly the life she wanted._

Both the Doctor and Rose gasped as the memory abruptly ended. Rose smiled.

"I liked that one." The Doctor was glad, soon there would be some she wouldn't enjoy, like losing Mickey, or being trapped after Canary Wharf, or seeing her stepfather sacrifice himself for her. He particularly didn't want to show her Sarah Jane and the older woman's jealousy, since that was what was next, if he remembered correctly.

"Can...can I ask you a question?" The Doctor nodded. "What...I know you told me what the clone...what was he called?"

"John, the Metacrisis."

"Metacrisis, yeah. I know you told me he left, but why did he leave? You never did tell me why." The Doctor sighed, leaning back. Rose fell into his side on instinct, before remembering. She went to pull away but the Doctor pulled her closer. Finally giving in, she put her head on his chest and listened to the double beat of his hearts.

"I don't know." He finally began after a few minutes. "Maybe he had Donna's genes messing up the functions in his brain, causing him to forget or have intense mood swings. Or maybe he was just too like me."

"Like you? What does that mean?"

"I...I used to have a bad habit of leaving you behind, thinking you were better off without me, safer at home. Maybe he thought you could take better care of your family without him and his problems to trip you up. Or maybe he was just selfish."

"But I thought he loved me."

"I know. I did too."

"Does...does that mean you love me?" The Doctor nearly denied it, but he had made a promise that he would never lie to her.

"Yes." The Doctor reached out and ran a finger through the strands of hair next to her face. "And I know you took it hard, not even remembering me regenerate. You lost your trust in me, and you lost the man you loved before you were ready. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about regeneration earlier, it just never occurred to me that I would lose that form so soon."

"It's okay." She said quietly, sniffing. She did miss her Doctor so, so much. "I get it. You're the same man. But you're just so different."

"New new new Doctor." Rose smiled at that, remembering that from a memory he had shown her before.

"That was our first date." Rose whispered as she leaned up towards his lips. Slowly, gently their lips connected and the Doctor felt a rush of passion fill him up and overtake him. But he held back for Rose's sake and caressed her gently. Rose replied in turn, her tongue gently asking permission, which the Doctor gladly gave.

The Doctor could say twelve thousand different ways to say how sorry he was for everything she lost, he'd never stop saying sorry if it would make it up to her. And, along those same lines, he could tell her how much he loved her, how he was never going to leave her again. How stupid and foolish he had been for nearly losing her to his own selfishness.

But it wouldn't matter any more, everything that needed to be said had already been said. All that mattered now was that they were together, and the Doctor would never let anything tear them apart again.

_**End**_

**If you recognized something about that memory the Doctor showed her, it was mentioned in chapter 1 of this story: Belle de Jour, while the Doctor is following 'Belle' home.**

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_**Fallen Heart Sneak Peak**_

The Doctor couldn't sleep. He kept tossing and turning, horrible images running through his head. Usually he didn't need sleep, but he had gone so long without it Rose had begun worrying for him. And the last thing he wanted was her worrying, not in her fragile state.

It had been okay at first, but recently things had been a bit strained, mainly on the Doctor's part. He had to hold back from snapping at her, he kept hearing strange voices in his head, and finally, the sleeping issue. The nightmares began as soon as he closed his eyes._ Images of Rose in her Belle outfit making out with the Master, her stomach bloody from her knife wound, Rose dying in his arms and never awakening, Rose waking up and not remembering him at all... The cloister bell resounded in the background, filling his hearts with fear and dread. A woman's face he recognized flashed in front of him, her eyes glowing gold. The Presence._

_ "Beware!" She shouted, baring her teeth like a wolf. Like a Bad Wolf. "Beware the Dark One!"_

_ "Who is the Dark One?" The Doctor shouted and spun around, having lost sight of the Presence._

_ "If she remembers, she will die!" The voice echoed all around him.  
_

_ "I won't let that happen! I won't lose her again!" Not after all he had done to save her. _

_ "Beware!" She repeated over and over. _

The Doctor sat up in bed, covered in sweat. He gazed all around, seeing if anything he had dreamed was real.

"Just a dream." He muttered, but still the Presence's words stuck in his head and refused to leave him.

_"Beware the Dark One!"_

** Now that might change later on, but right now I'm pretty happy with it. For now, alert me to see my next fic sometime soon "The Companion Project", the summary is on my profile if you want to take a look, it's not much because I didn't want anybody stealing my idea, but hopefully I'll be able to change it soon :) Don't forget to review! :D Thank you all so much for everything!**

** xXBadWolfXx**


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